An Array of Treasures at Madrid's Museum of the Americas

Virtually every visitor to Madrid heads to the Prado Museum and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, but the wonderful Museum of the Americas is often neglected. It contains one of the world’s most spectacular collections of pre-Columbian art, including Mayan and Incan art and artifacts that the Spanish conquistadors brought home.

The Madrid Codex, a hieroglyphic manuscript detailing daily Mayan life, at the Museum of the Americas - Simon Burchell/Wikimedia Commons

Don’t miss the Madrid Codex (above), one of only three surviving hieroglyphic manuscripts detailing daily Mayan life; the Tudela Codex, which is comprised of indigenous paintings that describe the events of the Spanish conquest; and the Quimbayas Treasure, a spectacular collection of gold funerary ornaments from Colombia’s Quimbaya culture, which dates to the first century B.C.

Museum of the Americas
Avenida de los Reyes Católicos 6. Tel. (34) 91-543-9437

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