Pastrana Parish Tapestry Museum

The Pastrana Parish Tapestry Museum is a museum of religious and textile art located in the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Pastrana, in the province of Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha. It is situated in the former Main Sacristy, which has now been restored for public viewing and the conservation of the collection, with coordinates very close to 40.41645, -2.92442. Its most distinctive feature is the series of late 15th-century Flemish Gothic tapestries, considered one of the most important collections of its kind in the world. These pieces depict the conquests of Arcila and Tangier by the troops of Alfonso V of Portugal in 1471, making the museum an exceptional testament to European courtly tapestry and late medieval visual propaganda. In addition to the tapestries, the museum features other galleries with paintings, sculptures, and gold and silverwork from various periods, including pieces by Juan de Borgoña and Juan Carreño de Miranda, as well as carvings attributed to Francisco Salzillo and Alonso Cano. The collection reinforces the artistic value of the collegiate church as a repository of cultural heritage and as a space for interpreting the history of the church. The site’s historical context is linked to the collegiate church itself—a building with a long history in the town—and to the return and reinstallation of the tapestries following their restoration, which explains the space’s current role as a museum. The result is a heritage resource of the utmost importance in Pastrana, due to the quality of its collection and the direct relationship between liturgical architecture and the art collection.