Spain grants Palacio de Hielo to Madrid's Thyssen museum for 365-work contemporary expansion

Building transfer and funding

The Spanish government has agreed to transfer the former Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil on Calle Duque de Medinaceli in Madrid to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza for a second venue. The property sits 260 metres from the museum's primary building on Paseo del Prado and has remained disused since 2007. The Ministry of Finance owns the property and will finance the complete rehabilitation of the structure. Officials announced an estimated public budget of 70 million euros for the renovation work, while separate government projections place the total adaptation cost at up to 90 million euros. The building offers between 15,000 and 19,500 square metres of built space alongside a 1,500-square-metre courtyard garden.

The TBA21 collection and artists

The new space will house contemporary 21st-century art provided by the TBA21 foundation, established by museum trustee Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza. The agreement transfers 365 pieces to the state institution, consisting of a donation of 186 artworks and a long-term loan of 179 pieces. Valuations for the contribution vary across official statements, with Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun valuing the donation at 15 million euros alongside a 10-million-euro loan, while other estimates place the value of the donated works above 115 million euros. The contemporary holdings include works by Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, Pipilotti Rist, Ernesto Neto, Maurizio Cattelan, and Joan Jonas. Thyssen artistic director Guillermo Solana noted that the museum is paying no financial fee for the acquisition.

In the presentation on 16 September 2026, Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun outlined the purpose of expanding public access to the collection.

Where today we have a closed building, tomorrow we want exhibitions, schools holding workshops, researchers working, restorers caring for the works, concerts, lectures, and spaces open to the public; because we do not simply want a bigger museum, but a more useful museum.

Dual role for culture and memory

The venue will combine artistic exhibitions with state commemoration by housing a new Madrid branch of the Centro Memorial de las Víctimas del Terrorismo. The memorial center will occupy 1,500 square metres of the site, establishing the second state-run memorial facility after the original center in Vitoria-Gasteiz. The building was constructed in 1922 using reinforced concrete and initially operated as a sports venue hosting the first Spanish ice hockey league game. The state acquired the property in 1928, later using it for the Centro de Estudios Históricos and as the headquarters of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas from 1940 until 2007. Finance Minister Arcadi España addressed the dual function during the announcement.

Culture and memory will coexist under one roof, and both will require the same exercise of us: to stop, look, ask, and not walk past.

Project timeline through 2032

The expansion follows an institutional relationship established in 2019, when the Thyssen museum agreed to stage two TBA21 exhibitions annually. Government planners aim to open the completed facility in 2032 following a multi-stage execution schedule. The administration will define the programming requirements and launch an architectural competition in 2026. Winning architectural plans are scheduled for drafting between 2027 and 2028, with physical construction work starting in 2029. Exhibition halls for the Thyssen will occupy over 8,000 square metres of the completed interior.