objects from being taken out of the country and created Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigüedades y Comisión de Investigaciones Paleontológicas y Prehistóricas. Headed a number of archaeological institutions himself. Published studies on María Henríquez de Toledo, archbishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada and the Santa María de Huerta monastery. In 1908 he entered Real Academia de Historia (invitation pending since 1898), to join Real Academia Española in 1913. Before his death de Cerralbo donated part of his archeological collection to museums. Hobbyist, collector, man of culture From youth de Cerralbo contributed to Madrid periodicals, like Fomento Literario and La Ilustración Católica. Active in La Alborada, a literary society founded by the son of his wife Antonio del Valle, he authored small pieces of prose and poetry; his El Arco Romano de Medinaceli has even made it to a contemporary Spanish poetry anthology. His style, like this demonstrated in Leyenda de Amor, merged classical perfection of verse with romantic sentiment, appealing to contemporary taste though nowadays probably looking banal and bombastic. Spending much time in his preferred rural residence in Santa María de Huerta, de Cerralbo practiced gardening and farming, in particular horse breeding. He attempted to create a new lineage, a mixture of a pure English and a pure Spanish breed; in 1882 his yeguada won Primer Premio at the Madrid Exhibition, in 1902 his horses won prizes in Madrid and in Barcelona. Since his childhood de Cerralbo was infected by coleccionismo, initially focused on numismatics, but gradually broadened to collecting paintings, arms, armor, porcelain and ceramics, rugs, tapestries and curtains, marbles, watches, lamps, sculptures, furniture, candles, drawings, rare books, stamps and other antiquities. A tireless collectables hunter, Cerralbo traced them at auctions, antiquities shops and museums across Europe, purchasing also entire assortments from other people. He amassed around 28,000 objects, his collection considered one of the most complete in Spain at the time. The contemporary press dubbed him El marqués coleccionista, though his zeal was popular among the wealthy bourgeoisies. Before his death de Cerralbo set up Fundación Museo Cerralbo, which displays most of the objects until today. The collection remains a good example of the 19th century private collecting passion, somewhat undisciplined but delivering a sense of search for beauty and, possibly, quality of life. In contemporary guidebooks the place is referred to as “a study in 19th-century opulence”, jammed with “fruits of the collector’s eclectic meanderings”. Legacy