Madrid will recover Palacio del Capricho in 2027 and open a new museum in one of its most secret corners

Palacio del Capricho, closed for decades, will reopen as a museum in 2027. The space recovers its Enlightenment history and adds a new cultural destination to the city. Madrid thus gains a unique venue for exhibitions and activities.

Madrid has a new reason to stroll through Alameda de Osuna: after years of abandonment and works, Palacio del Capricho will open its doors as a museum in 2027. The building, which many have only seen from afar on visits to the park, will become a space devoted to the Madrid Enlightenment and the Duchess of Osuna, recovering its role as a cultural meeting point.

At the end of the 18th century, the palace was a refuge for enlightened high society. María Josefa de Pimentel Téllez-Girón, the Duchess of Osuna, fostered it as a laboratory for ideas, music and art. Writers, musicians and scientists passed through its rooms, and Francisco de Goya left emblematic works here such as El aquelarre and El columpio. It was not only a residence: it was a setting for concerts, gatherings and walks through romantic gardens.

Over the centuries, the estate experienced wars, changes of ownership and military uses. During the Guerra Civil, the palace even housed General Miaja’s bunker. The park was declared a Jardín Histórico in 1934 and became municipal in 1974, but the building remained closed and outside usual routes as recovery projects accumulated without being realised.

The real change came in the last decade, when the City Council backed a comprehensive restoration. Between 2022 and 2025, Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural y Paisaje Urbano invested about €6.9 million in restoring façades, roofs and historic rooms. The first phase consolidated the structure and repaired the walls; the second, now completed, restored splendour to the interiors and installed modern climate control, security and accessibility systems. In addition, museum-display elements have been tendered for €2.3 million, placing the opening in the first quarter of 2027.

Inside, visitors will be able to tour the Duke and Duchess’s cabinets, admire the tiles in the gala dining room — inspired by the Mosaic of Issos of Pompeii — and climb the grand main staircase, restored to its original layout. Decorated ceilings, historic floors and ornamental details have recovered their 18th-century atmosphere, now adapted to the needs of a contemporary museum. The tour will revive the gatherings, concerts and dances that marked the palace’s social life, accompanied by panels, objects and multimedia resources.

The new museum will revolve around three axes: the Duchess of Osuna, the history of the estate, and the artistic and social context of the Enlightenment in Madrid. There will be a permanent collection of objects, documents and artworks linked to the family and the palace itself, as well as sensory exhibitions, archives, classrooms, a hybrid library and rooms for chamber concerts and theatre. Museo del Prado could temporarily lend paintings connected with the family and Goya, reinforcing the venue’s educational vocation.

El Capricho park is one of Madrid’s most singular corners. Its landscape design, romantic temples and variety of plant species make it a usual destination for those seeking respite away from the centre. Reopening the palace as a museum not only recovers a historic building, but adds a new attraction to the city’s cultural calendar.