Museo ABC (Madrid)

The ABC (newspaper) Museum, also known as the ABC Museum of Drawing and Illustration in Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, houses a private collection of drawings and illustrations, the ABC Collection, and its function is to preserve and disseminate the collection, as well as to promote and revalue drawing and illustration through exhibitions, activities and events.

It is administered by the ABC Collection Foundation and was inaugurated in November 2010. After the temporary closure due to the COVID19 pandemic, the museum has reopened its doors occupying a smaller space in the building, which it now shares with the Clara del Rey Cultural Center, belonging to the Madrid City Council.

History

The headquarters of the ABC Museum of Drawing and Illustration is located at 29-31 Amaniel Street, near the Conde Duque Center, in a building that once housed the first Mahou Beer factory in the capital of Spain in 1891.

The original building is the work of architects Francisco Andrés Octavio Palacios and José López Sallaberry, the latter being closely linked to the development of new urban planning in Madrid in the early 20th century. Sallaberry was responsible for moving Cibeles palace to its current location, and was also one of the architects behind the Gran Vía, as well as the creator of the Casino building and the façade of the building that ABC and Blanco y Negro occupied for decades on Calle de Serrano.

Features

The building has a surface area of over 3,800 m² for the development of its activities, distributed over six floors, two of which are underground.

It has two large exhibition halls, multifunctional spaces dedicated to classrooms, a floor for management work, the ABC Collection Archive, a restoration laboratory, warehouses, a glass room and an auditorium.

Collection

The ABC Collection Archive was started in 1891 and contains drawings and illustrations from that date to the present day. These works were first published in the magazine Blanco y Negro, and then also in the ABC newspaper and the supplements that were created by Prensa Española.

The ABC Collection is a unique legacy that contains a century of graphic art that has been nourished by the work of 1,500 artists of all styles, techniques and trends in drawing and illustration, consisting of nearly 150,000 works, which also includes contemporary authors and techniques.

ABC newspaper

ABC is a Spanish national daily newspaper. Along with El Mundo and El País, it is one of Spain’s three newspapers of record.

Address: C. de Amaniel, 29, Centro, 28015 Madrid, Spain.

Hours:

Thursday 11 AM–2 PM, 4–8 PM
Friday 11 AM–2 PM, 4–8 PM
Saturday 11 AM–2 PM, 4–8 PM
Sunday Closed
Monday Closed
Tuesday 11 AM–2 PM, 4–8 PM
Wednesday 11 AM–2 PM, 4–8 PM