History

During its more than 25 years of existence, Palacios y Museos has experienced a continuous growth in Spain through close collaboration with monuments, museums and national and international institutions. Today, Palacios y Museos manages a total number of 40 shops in Spain.

In 1991, Palacios y Museos consolidated its position through the inauguration of its shops in the Alcázar de Segovia and the Museo del Prado, and with the signature of a contract with Patrimonio Nacional (National Heritage of Spain) for the management of the shops at all its palaces, in addition to the development of its own brand ‘Reales Sitios de España’ (‘Royal Sites of Spain’). Only one year before, in 1990, the company called Aldeasa had created the division Palacios y Museos, just at the same time when the bookshop at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía de Madrid started operating.

The Company started to manage the shops in the national museums in 1994, in accordance with the contract signed with the Ministry of Culture regarding the Museo Altamira and the Museo Sefardí. Nowadays, Palacios y Museos manages the shops in, at least, 11 national museums, including the renewed National Archaeological Museum.

It was not until 1997 when Palacios y Museos started operating in religious monuments with the opening of the shop in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Then, the shops in the cathedrals of Granada (2000), Sevilla and Málaga (2002), and Gerona (2004) would follow. It was also during 2004 when the shop in the modernist Palau de la Música in Barcelona was inaugurated.

In 1999, Aldeasa - Palacios y Museos succeeded in establishing itself in Colombia, in the shop at the Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold) (Bogotá). Its presence in that country got strengthened in 2003, with the opening of the shop at the Donación Botero, also in Bogotá.

In 2000, the shop in the Cueva de Nerja (Málaga) got on business and, in 2002, the one in the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda followed its steps.

In 2001, Aldeasa created the company Audioguiarte Servicios Culturales SL in order to offer audioguide services and audiovisual communication devices (smartphones, tablets, apps, etc.) to cultural institutions. Some of those institutions Palacios y Museos is currently working with are the Museo Picasso in Barcelona, the Museo Thyssen in Madrid, the Catedral Mezquita de Córdoba and the Museo del Pueblo Español in Barcelona.

Between 2003 and 2005, three shops were opened in Panama (two at the visiting centres in the Panama Canal and another one in the Museo Interoceánico).

Since 2005, the international development got strengthened by the signature of three important contracts in France for the management of the shop in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles and of two important museums in Paris: La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace. The shop in the Biblioteca Nacional opened at that time, too.

In 2009, Palacios y Museos improved its international standing thanks to a contract of comprehensive advisory services with the Turkish company Bilintur, which was later awarded the management of the shopping areas in more than 55 Museums and Institutions in Turkey, such as the Topkapi Palace, Ayasofya and Pamukkale.

In the same year, the group Aldeasa created the company Palacios y Museos S.L.U. by segregating its operative division, of which it would still be the only stockholder. The company Audioguiarte Servicios Culturales turned then into an affiliated company.

In 2010, Palacios y Museos was again awarded in the tender for the shops in the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, which it had already managed between 1994 and 2002.

Lately, the Company has also winned the tenders for the Centro Centro Cibeles (2013), the Teatro Real de Madrid (2014) and the shops in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (2015).

During all these years, Palacios y Museos has also had the opportunity to take part in important temporary exhibitions such as those held at the exhibition room of Canal de Isabel II (the Madrid water company): ‘Faraón’ (‘Pharaoh’) in 2005, ‘Escher’ in 2006, ‘Star Wars’ in 2008, ‘Fernando Alonso’ in 2013 and, more recently, ‘Cleopatra’, in 2015. Palacios y Museos has also managed the shops in the exhibitions ‘El Legado de la Casa de Alba’ (‘The Legacy of the House of Alba’) (2012-2013), 'Greco' (2014) in Toledo, 'Titanic' (2015) in the Centro Fernán Gómez in Madrid and 'Kandinsky' (2015) in Cibeles.

Finally, this year, the last shop opened has been the one in the Palacio de Las Dueñas in Sevilla.