Museo Naval

It took two goes to get to see this museum in Madrid.  It is based in the Spanish Naval HQ building, and the first time we walked all the way around trying to find the museum entrance.  At the end I thought it must have been closed for construction work, but I think it was just a well-hidden entrance and that it might have been closed on that day.  Second attempt was much more successful.  Better still, the museum was effectively free to enter.  

Well worth it just to see the building in which it is housed.  It is also laid out following the historical time frame which saw Spain become the dominant naval power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before its decline.  The navy was a major expense but required to maintain their colonies. 

The collection included various artifacts, models and dioramas as well as paintings.

Magnificent model.

As it was in a glass cabinet 

I had to be careful of reflections

and use of flash.

Combate Naval Entre Espanoles Y Turcos

by Juan De La Corte 1597-1660

The Pope looking at the Battle of Lepanto

Unfortunately, I can't read the descriptive plaque in this photo.

Don Juan of Austria

daring you to comment on his fashion sense,

so he can stick you with his stiletto.

More stirring paintings now moving to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Not just ship models (of which there were a lot)

but also some interesting dioramas of various Spanish naval bases.

Spanish navy bombarding a Peruvian city 2 May 1866

during the Chincha Island Wars.