And in the next 140 years?

Even though we are not thinking that far ahead, we do have plans for the coming years. In fact, our aims in this field, in accordance with the Area of Infrastructures of the General Subdirectorate of State Museums and the Infrastructure Management of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, bodies upon which we depend for the design and undertaking of work on the building, are currently arranged in two phases: a first phase which is already underway and must be completed in 2017, during which we aim to immediately resolve some important functional deficiencies which the museum has been carrying for some time; and a second phase that is more medium- and long-term from this year onward, during which we aim to address the museum’s future, its conceptual evolution and finally, its complete transformation following a master plan.

More specifically, the objectives of this first phase are: to improve accessibility to the museum and its contents, to improve the energy efficiency and the stability of the ambient conditions inside the building and to improve the functional organization by providing adequate spaces and resources to certain services and activities which now form a permanent part of its cultural range. To fulfil these, as well as other minor projects and investments, we have planned the following actions:

• Refurbishment of the museum’s main roof, including the improvement of its heat insulation.
• Renewal of the signs with identifying titles and explanatory texts for the permanent exhibition, in order to improve the legibility and comprehension of the information they contain, as well as to present them in both Spanish and English.
• Adaptation of the regulations of the safety facilities and, through this, organizing the space with the creation of new areas for participatory activities: workshops, courses and collaborative project meetings.
• Improvement to the accessibility in the museum’s access and reception area, by installing a ramp to avoid the segregation of visitors with difficulties in ascending the staircase at the museum’s entrance, a new reception desk, a self-service left-luggage point, a meeting area for groups and a more functional and transparent distribution zone.

Of these projects, we have completed the first in 2016, and its effects have already been noted during both the hottest and coldest months of the year. Of the second, we have now completed the first phase, which involved the renewal of the signs and posters identifying the exhibition rooms and areas; and we expect to tackle the second, during which we are going to replace all the signs on the cabinets (display units), in the early months of 2017. We also expect the others, which have now been drawn up, to be completed during 2017.

The MNA was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest under Decree 474/1962, of 1 March .