FOR art lovers heading to Spain, Madrid has long been the go-to city break.
The Spanish capital is home to an illustrious array of museums including the Prado and Reina Sofia, with masterpieces such as Diego Velazquez’s iconic Las Meninas and Pablo Picasso’s Guernica drawing millions of visitors each year.
But further north, another Spanish city is threatening to knock Madrid off its perch.
That is according to the chief travel writer of The Sunday Times, who says Santander is emerging as Spain’s new destination of choice for art aficionado Brits.
The reason is Faro Santander – the former headquarters of Banco Santander, located on the city’s waterfront, which has been transformed into a major new public arts centre.
READ MORE: Outrage erupts in Mexican art world over plan to put Frida Kahlo masterpieces on display in Spain
The gallery’s inaugural collection includes classics by some of the biggest names in European art, including Velazquez, Picasso, Goya, Rubens, Miro, Sorolla and El Greco.
Among the biggest draws is Rubens’ Samson and the Lion, painted in the 17th century, which has never previously been displayed publicly.
Goya’s Don Valentin Bellvis de Moncada y Pizarro and Velazquez’s Tears of St Peter are also being shown for the first time.
The works all come from Banco Santander’s private collection of more than 1,200 pieces, amassed over almost 170 years.
For decades, much of the collection was kept at the bank’s headquarters outside Madrid and was only accessible by appointment, primarily attracting academics and specialists.
That changed after plans were unveiled in 2021 to transform the bank’s former Santander headquarters into a major public arts venue.
British architect David Chipperfield was brought in to overhaul the building, retaining its grand neo-Renaissance facade while completely transforming the inside.
Faro’s director Daniel Vega Perez de Arlucea said the aim was to create an ‘open and vibrant space for thought, creation and cultural enjoyment’, with the gallery combining historic masterpieces with contemporary art and immersive exhibitions.
The centre’s opening has not been without controversy, however.
A row broke out earlier this year over plans to export more than 150 works of art from Mexico to Spain, including masterpieces painted by Frida Kahlo.
Nearly 400 leading figures signed an open letter calling on the Mexican government to offer an explanation as to why the vital collection was to be displayed in Santander, rather than Latin American, with some left worried after the announcement of the agreement failed to disclose when the works would return to Mexico.
That was aggravated further after Faro Santander’s director said the deal was ‘flexible’ and the collection would have a ‘permanent presence’ at the revamped venue in Cantabria.
The row centred around a collection of nearly 160 works previously owned by the collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman, which was bought by the Zambrano family in 2023.
The Gelman collection, as the selection of art is known, includes works by Kahlo and other important Mexican artists including Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Maria Izquierdo, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco.
Culture minister Claudia Curiel de Icaza said she expected the artworks to return to Mexico in 2028.
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