The front of the Santa Cruz Museum in Toledo.

© Pierre-Olivier/Shutterstock

Museo de Santa Cruz

Toledo


It's hard to imagine that this 16th-century building was once a hospital. If only modern hospitals were equipped with the kind of ornate plateresque portico that welcomes you to this beautiful arts and ceramics museum. The pièce de résistance is the huge ground-floor gallery laid out in the shape of a cross. The various art and sculpture exhibits are backed up by interesting explanatory boards that place all the pieces into their historical context.

Sitting at one end, almost as if it were an altarpiece, is El Greco's Sagrada Familia con Santa Ana.

Equally salubrious is the cloister, which you must cross to access the extensive ceramics collection housed on the 1st floor.


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