BANCO DE ESPAÑA. COLLECTION OF TIMEPIECES. The Hours in Numbers Garbed

This catalogue documents and analyses the Banco de España's valuable collection of timepieces, amassed over the last two hundred years. The first clocks were acquired by the Banco Nacional de San Carlos (the present institution's earliest forerunner) for its headquarters on Madrid's Calle de la Luna. The publication is the fruit of a rigorous and painstaking process of research and cataloguing by Amelia Aranda Huete, who holds a PhD in Art History from the Complutense University in Madrid and specialises in the history of clockmaking. As well as the texts on over 140 individual timepieces (with photographs by Fernando Maquieira), Aranda Huete has also written an introductory essay on the history, characteristics and idiosyncrasies of the collection.

Journalist and writer Justo Navarro has contributed an essay entitled Las horas de números ya vestidas [The Hours in Numbers Garbed], which examines the crucial role played by clocks in art history and particularly in the bank's heritage collection. The catalogue also includes a welcome message from Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Banco de España, and a general foreword by Yolanda Romero, the bank's curator. In addition, there is a glossary of clock-making terms and short biographical sketches of the makers of some of the most outstanding pieces in the collection.

This publication is a further reflection of the bank's commitment to research, catalogue, publicise and provide public access to all of its artworks and heritage collection, including items once thought of as minor or luxury art forms such as tapestries, furnishings and ceramics.

N.B. Please note that the downloadable PDF version of the catalogue (see left-hand column) does not comply with WCAG 2.0 guidelines on accessibility. However, most of the content is available, in an accessible format that meets 'Double A' criteria, from the Collection section of the website.