MUSEUM
OF THE
RIOJA

The Museum of La Rioja not only keeps pieces:
itself is a piece. It is housed in the so-called Palacio de Espartero, a building erected in the mid-18th century (1752) by Pedro Ruiz de la Porta and later passed to the Martínez de Sicilia family; it is associated with Espartero because the general lived here after retiring from politics. Since 1971 it has housed the museum, so the palace changed from private life to public life.

On the outside, the palace has that noble but restrained air of the 18th century: proportion, balance, a façade that does not need to shout. Inside, the staircase and the layout speak of a time when architecture was also etiquette: you entered, you climbed, you showed. Now, instead of fan tours, there are rooms with archaeology, art and ethnography, from medieval pieces to later paintings and sculpture.

A brushstroke to enjoy it: enter like someone who enters someone else’s house with permission. Because that’s what it is, in the end: a big house turned into a shared memory. And that transformation has its charm: where once there was domestic life, now there are showcases; where once people spoke quietly about politics, now they speak in a low voice… so as not to disturb the art.

Fun fact: museums always look serious, but this building has had a “novel life”. And it shows: when a palace learns to be a museum, it becomes a little more democratic… and a lot more interesting.