El Greco Museum

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, the Cretan painter known in Spain as El Greco, settled in Toledo in 1577 and worked there until his death in 1614. The museum is not his house: in the early twentieth century the Marquis of Vega-Inclan bought a ruined sixteenth-century property in the Jewish quarter, near where the painter is thought to have lived, and rebuilt it as an idea of what a house of his period would have been, filling it with furniture and paintings and opening it in 1911. The collection includes a View and Plan of Toledo, the Apostolado series of Christ and the twelve apostles, and works by his son and followers, along with the reconstructed studio and a garden. It is one of Spain's national museums, attached to the Ministry of Culture.

What to look for

• The Apostolado series - Christ and the twelve apostles in a single room.
• The View and Plan of Toledo - his mapped and painted view of the city.
• The reconstructed house - a period interior assembled in the early 1900s.
• The garden and patio - courtyards in the Jewish quarter setting.

When to go

Spring and autumn for comfort in Toledo; the museum closes on Mondays and offers free entry in the last hours and on Sunday afternoons, which are busy. Toledo in summer is severely hot.

Good to know

The house is a twentieth-century recreation, not the painter's actual home, which the museum states but visitors often miss. The greatest El Greco works in Toledo are elsewhere, notably the Burial of the Count of Orgaz in Santo Tome. The building is small.

Nearby

The Transito synagogue is next door; Santo Tome and the cathedral are minutes away.

Key facts