{"id":2630,"date":"2014-11-11T20:07:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T20:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/?p=2630"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:54:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:54:37","slug":"antiguo-museo-del-ejercito-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/antiguo-museo-del-ejercito-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Antiguo Museo del Ej\u00e9rcito, Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Museo del Ej\u00e9rcito (Army Museum) was a Madrid museum for most of its history. It no longer is: the museum now has its seat in the Alc\u00e1zar of Toledo. This post tells the story of the old museum in Madrid, shows which of its former buildings can still be seen in the city, and gives the practical details for visiting the museum in Toledo in 2026.<\/p>\n

How the museum began<\/h2>\n

The Museo del Ej\u00e9rcito is the result of a merger of several military museums created in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its oldest forerunner is the Real Museo Militar, created in Madrid in 1803 at the request of Manuel Godoy. According to the museum, it is one of the oldest museums in Spain. One of its first aims was to support the training of soldiers, as a complement to the military academies.<\/p>\n

In 1827 the Real Museo Militar was divided into two sections, the Museo de Artiller\u00eda and the Museo de Ingenieros. More military museums followed: the Museo de Intendencia in 1885, the Museo de Caballer\u00eda in 1889 and the Museo de Infanter\u00eda in 1908. Each worked independently. A plan to unite them was made in 1929 but was not carried out. In 1932, under the Second Republic, the Museo Hist\u00f3rico Militar was created, with sections for the four arms of the army and for the quartermaster and medical corps. After the Civil War the museum took the form it kept at the Palacio del Buen Retiro.<\/p>\n

The museum’s three homes in Madrid<\/h2>\n