So bringing you back to another of my favorite cities of my dear Spain. So many visits and from when living in Madrid had cousin living near and we stop there always, I have this older post and decided to update the text and link using same older pictures ; for the memories of always. I will try to tell about these museums in off the beaten path of Toledo,
Toledo is about 71 km (about 44 miles) from Madrid. From Toledo part the N-400, which connects this city with Cuenca by Ocaña and Tarancón. There is now an excellent A-40 Autovia or highway of Castilla-La Mancha, that unites Avila with Maqueda (where it links with the Extremadura highway), Toledo, Ocaña (where it joins the highway of Andalusia), Tarancón (where it connects with the highway of Levante, Valencia), Cuenca and Teruel. A former national road 401 Madrid-Toledo-Ciudad Real was transformed at the end of the decade of 1980 in the current A-42. Good train and bus connection but use it sparingly over the years mostly have been by car,
The off the beaten paths museums on this post sounds like religious and indeed they are in those old buildings but they are , also, the cultural center of San Clemente (St Clement) and Santa Cruz museum (Holy Cross) , I like to tell you a bit more on them from my dear and memorable Toledo.
The Museo Santa Cruz takes its name from the building that serves as its headquarters, the old Hospital of Santa Cruz, founded by Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza as a general hospital and for the reception of exposed children. The building was built in the first decades of the 16C, after the death of its founder, and constitutes one of the architectural masterpieces of the Spanish Renaissance. It has a Greek cross plan with two floors, a large central cruise open to both floors and a total of eight bays, plus another room above the hall, all covered with wooden roofs. It also has two cloistered courtyards arranged between its arms. Its magnificent cover, dedicated to the devotion of the Holy Cross, the main cloister and the splendid staircase of Covarrubias, in the main courtyard, justify by itself the visit to this Museum.
The San Clemente Cultural Center dependent on the Provincial Council of Toledo is located in the Plaza de Padilla, in the historic center of the city , and is part of the Imperial Monastery of San Clemente. Two courtyards appear as organizing elements of the set. The main one is of enormous dimensions and can be considered as the true heart of the convent. It consists of two overlapping floors, with semicircular arches and in the upper architraves. The supports are carved stone columns. The second patio is simpler. The floor below has semicircular arches and the upper architrave with stone columns and brick walls. But what stands out above all is the enormous beauty of the Plateresque cover. In the 12C this convent already existed but in the 16C various modifications are made.
In an important part of the Convent of San Clemente, the Cultural Center is installed, where the Library, the Restoration Unit and the Exhibition Center of the Provincial Council of Toledo are located. This Center regularly hosts exhibitions of the works of artists born or resident in our province, although other authors also participate in these exhibitions, less frequently. Sometimes they are already established artists and other young people who begin their artistic career and thus have the opportunity to bring their work to Toledo and many visitors that the city receives in consequence.
The Toledo tourist office on museums : https://turismo.toledo.es/recursos/museos-y-monumentos.html
The Castilla La Mancha regional tourist office on Toledo’s museums :http://en.www.turismocastillalamancha.es/patrimonio/museos/toledo/
The Deputy Council of Toledo on the San Clemente cultural center :https://www.diputoledo.es/global/61
There you go folks ,again another dandy monuments museums of awesome Toledo and off the beaten paths, need to be visited more me think, Again, hope you enjoy the museums here as I
And remember, happy travel, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 