:: Museums

If you are going to be in Granada only a short time, we recommend that you visit the three most important museums in Granada: the Science Museum, the García Lorca Museum and the Archaeological Museum. But if you are going to stay in Granada long enough, we suggest you also take in other museums, not as famous perhaps but that have a certain charm and deserve a visit.
You can purchase a City Pass (bono turístico) that includes transport on the city buses and a 25-30% discount on tickets to museums and monuments in Granada. With the City Pass you will be able to visit the following sights any day of the week: Alhambra and Generalife, the Alhambra Museum, the Archaeological Museum, Granada's Cathedral, the Royal Chapel, the Royal Chapel Museum, the Science Museum, the Monastery of San Jerónimo, the Cartuja Monastery, the Fine Arts Museum and the Cathedral Museum.

:: Museums ::

• Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico de Granada  

The Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Granada is located in the Casa del Castríl, a historic building which formerly belonged to Hernando de Zafra, the Secretary of the Catholic Monarchs. A lovely Renaissance palace with an impressive façade, it is sometimes attributed to Siloé but is probably the work of one of his followers, Sebastián Alcántara. Among its treasures is the lamp from the mosque of Medina Elvira, site of the first Moorish settlement in the Granada area. The Museum's permanent exhibit offers visitors a living portrait of the daily life of societies now gone, which speak to us through their material remains. The result is a panoramic view based upon archaeological research from recent years, in which material evidence from the past is shown not only for what it is but also for how it illustrates certain economic, social and ideological processes experienced by the prehistoric and historic communities that lived in the province of Granada.
Carrera del Darro, 43. (+34) 902 225 603.
www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MAEGR
Tuesday, from 2:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays and holidays, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Closed: Mondays, January 1 and 6, May 1, November 1 and December 24, 25 and 31.

• Museo Casa de los Tiros  

This Museum is in the Casa de los Tiros, a 16th century Renaissance building the façade of which features icons representing the heroes of the Trojan war. Inaugurated in 1929, it has a collection of paintings from the 17th through the 19th century, Baroque sculpture from Granada, ceramics from Fajalauza, popular textiles and a collection of furniture dating from the 19th century. Its collection also includes drawings, watercolors, engravings, lithographs and a number of photographs of the city and its monuments. There is also a newspaper archive, a library specialised in subjects pertaining to Granada and archives with documents that belonged to the Granada-born writers Baltasar Martínez Durán, Francisco de Paula-Valladar Serrano and Antonio Gallego Burín, among others.
Pavaneras, 18. (+34) 902 221 072.
www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MCTGR
Tuesday, from 2:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays and holidays, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Closed: Mondays, January 1 and 6, Good Friday, May 1, November 1 and December 6, 24, 25 and 31.

• Centro de Interpretación Sacromonte  

The Sacromonte Interpretation Centre is an ethnographic and environmental museum and also an art centre. It is located on a large piece of land with a variety of native plants. Here you can visit caves that show how the gypsies lived when they inhabited this part of the city, their traditional occupations such as metalsmithing, ceramics, basket weaving…There is also an exhibit hall and a medicinal plant workshop. The centre is of great value in terms of cultural and natural heritage, thanks to its series of caves and the complement provided by the lovely natural scenery and monumental landscapes. The Valle del Darro (Valparaíso), the slopes of Sacromonte and the Generalife, the old Nasrid city wall (la Cerca de Don Gonzalo), the Cerro del Aceituno, Fuente del Avellano and the Albaicín are all part of this setting and, in combination with the local residents, give the place a very particular personality.
Barranco de los Negros , s/n. (+34) 958 215 120.
www.sacromontegranada.com
Winter hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m.
Summer hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 9 p.m.

• Casa Museo Federico García Lorca (childhood home)  

On June 4, 1986, fifty years after Federico García Lorca's execution by firing squad, this house-museum opened its doors and the public could finally visit the place where Lorca was born and raised, in the nearby town of Fuente Vaqueros. Since then the Lorca family home has become a necessary stop for everyone wishing to get to know the world of the writer, and also see his manuscripts, correspondence with many of his friends, drawings of his own and of artists of the same period, very valuable material for those who are able to find emotions and wisdom in museums.
Calle Poeta García Lorca 4, Fuente Vaqueros (18340) Granada. (+34) 958 258 466.
www.museogarcialorca.org
October 1 through March 31: Mornings: 10-11 a.m., 12 noon and last visit at 1 p.m. Afternoons: 4 and 5 p.m. and last visit at 6 p.m.
April 1 through 30 June: Mornings: 10-11 a.m., 12 noon and last visit at 1 p.m. Afternoons: 5 and 6 p.m. and last visit at 7 p.m.
July 1 through 31 August: Mornings: 10-11 a.m., 12 noon, 1 p.m. and last visit at 2 p.m.
September 1 - 30: Mornings: 10-11 a.m., 12 noon and last visit at 1 p.m. Afternoons: 5 and 6 p.m. and last visit at 7 p.m.
ALL VISITS ARE GUIDED. FOR GROUPS ADVANCE BOOKING IS NECESSARY. CLOSED MONDAYS

• Casa Museo Federico García Lorca (Huerta de San Vicente)  

This house-museum is where Federico García Lorca lived while in Granada. Visitors can see his bedroom, the piano room and the other rooms of the house. Nowadays, during the summer, concerts and other activities take place here. Lorca and his family spent summers in this house, located in what was then the rural area surrounding Granada. Lorca composed a good share of his pieces here. On display is a collection of his personal belongings.
Virgen Blanca , s/n. (+34) 958 258 466.
www.huertadesanvicente.com
(October through March) Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m.
(April through September) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. Month of August: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Closed Mondays and afternoons on holidays

• Casa Museo Manuel de Falla  

This house-museum enables visitors to have a look at the keepsakes and personal belongings of the brilliant composer, Manuel de Falla. Between 1921 and 1939, Manuel de Falla lived in Granada, in a simple carmen, which is the typical house in Granada and consists of a house surrounded by an enclosed garden area. The house he lived in has been transformed into a museum that recreates the ambience that surrounded this composer from Cádiz, and it is where his furniture, keepsakes and personal belongings are still kept.
Antequeruela Alta,11. (+34) 958 222 188.
www.museomanueldefalla.com
1 September through 30 June, Tuesday to Sunday , from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
1 July through 31 August, Thursday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Closed: Mondays and holidays.

• Parque de las Ciencias  

Granada's interactive Science Museum is very near the city's Convention Centre. Apart from its special exhibits, it includes a planetarium, an observatory, a library, a restaurant and a viewing tower.
Avenida de la Ciencia s/n (+34) 958 131 900.
www.parqueciencias.com
Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sundays, holidays and Mondays preceding holidays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Closed Mondays, 1 January, 1 May and December 25.

•Museo de San Juan de Dios. Casa de los Pisa  

The Saint John of God Museum is in a palace house that exemplifies the type of home developed to provide housing to the families who had participated in the war to take back Granada from the Moors. It illustrates the assimilation of the prototype of the courtyard-house from the Renaissance period. As such, the main part of the building is disposed around a porticoed courtyard with a central fountain. Its Mudejar roofs are of particular interest. In 1929 a Neogothic chapel devoted to St. John of God was built in one of the courtyard's wings.
Convalecencia, 1. (+34) 958 222 144.
Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m.. to 1 p.m.
Sundays and holidays, by appointment.

• Carmen-Museo de Max Moreau  

A municipal house-museum in the Albaicín quarter. This building was the residence of the Belgian artist Max León Moreau, who bequeathed all of his possessions to the city of Granada. A gallery displays part of the artist's work: portraits, still lifes and landscapes. In the main building you can visit the artist's studio, which has been preserved exactly as he left it. In an adjacent room Moreau's life is shown on panels.
Camino Nuevo De San Nicolás, 12. (+34) 958 293 310.
Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Sundays.

• Centro de Arte José Guerrero  

Right next to the Cathedral of Granada, in a splendidly restored building, is the Art Centre devoted to the work of the Granada-born, abstract painter José Guerrero. Its activity programme includes exhibits in which the work of Guerrero is contrasted with the work of another abstract artist. It is a very worthwhile place to visit in Granada.
Oficios, 8. (+34) 958 220 109.
www.centroguerrero.org
Tuesday to Saturday and holidays, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 9 p.m.
Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Sunday afternoons, and December 24, 25 and 31 and January 1.
Closed Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.
Summer hours [June through 15 September]
Tuesday to Saturday and holidays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 9 p.m.
Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Sunday afternoons.

• Museo de la Capilla Real  

The Royal Chapel, which was founded by the Catholic Monarchs, contains a museum with a very important collection of Flemish paintings that were essentially the devotional collection of Queen Isabella. It was restored a few years ago by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage, with plans by the Granada-born architect Pedro Salmerón.
Oficios, s/n. (+34) 958 227 848.
www.capillarealgranada.com
Fall and winter hours:
Monday to Saturday: from 10:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m and from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
Sundays and holidays: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m and from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Spring and summer hours:
Monday to Saturday: from 10:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m and from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
Sundays and holidays: from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m and from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

• Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada  

The Fine Arts Museum of Granada has been located in the Palace of Charles V since 1958. This palace is within the grounds of the Alhambra and deserves a visit in and of itself. The museum has a very extensive collection, covering the Renaissance through the 20th century, with emphasis on the works of Granada-born artists Alonso Cano, of the 17th century, and Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, of the 20th century. Its exhibit halls were recently restored and the displays have been fully renovated.
Oficios, s/n. (+34) 958 575 450.
www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MBAGR/
Hours: 
March 1 through October 31,
Tuesday from 2:30 to 8 p.m.
Wednesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sundays and holidays, from 9.00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
November 1 through February 28,
Tuesday from 2:30 to 6 p.m.
Wednesday to Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sundays and holidays, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Closed: Mondays, January 1 and 6, May 1, and December 24, 25 and 31.

• Mineral Museum of the University of Granada  

The origins of the Mineral Museum, located in the University of Granada's Mineralogy and Petrology Department, are found in the collection acquired in Germany at the end of the 19th century, for what was then called the Mineralogy Office of the University of Granada. Over time it suffered many losses until it received fresh impetus in the 1960s, when specialised studies in Geology were established. It has more than three thousand specimens displayed in a total of twenty-one showcases in the main hall of the second floor of the Department.
Oficios, s/n. (+34) 958 227 848.
www.ugr.es

• Natural Science Museum "Instituto Padre Suarez"

This collection within the Padre Suarez Secondary School comes from the Natural History Office, which during the 19th century participated in the teaching of sciences in all secondary schools. In the 1990s, at the initiative of the current head of department, Luis Castellón, and with the help of the students, the entire collection was recovered and restructured as a museum, which was inaugurated in 1997. It is comprised of three exhibit rooms and a hallway which display about 4000 natural elements (fossils, birds, mammals, mollusks, etc.) and an interesting collection of scientific archaeology materials, such as the anatomical models of Dr. Auzoux, or the "educational boxes" of Dr. Kagerah, all dating from the end of the 19th century.
Gran Vía, 61. (+34) 958 893 120.
www.museocienciaspadresuarez.com
Hours:
Monday to Thursday: from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m.

• European Centre for Women "Mariana Pineda"

The last residence of Mariana Pineda, a native of Granada who came to symbolise the liberal constitutionalist struggle of the 19th century, now serves as the headquarters for the Municipal Council for Women, and also has a room dedicated to the historical figure.
Águila, 19. (+34) 958 262 961 .
www.marianapineda.com
Hours:
Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m.
In July and August from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Documentation Room: (Monday to Friday)
from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Historical Room: (Monday to Friday)
from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m.