The National Museum of Decorative Arts began as a museum of industrial arts, devoted to objects that joined skilled making with everyday use. Its move into a nineteenth-century Madrid palace brought that mission into a domestic setting, where furniture, ceramics, and design can be read in context.
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The National Museum of Decorative Arts asks visitors to take everyday objects seriously. It was founded in 1912 as the National Museum of Industrial Arts, at a time when institutions across Europe were collecting examples of craft and manufacture.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The museum was founded in 1912 as the National Museum of Industrial Arts.
- It moved to its current palace in the early 1930s.
- Its collections interpret applied arts and designed objects.
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