Description

The Valencia de Don Juan Institute was created in 1916 by Guillermo de Osma y Scull and his wife Adelaida Crooke y Guzmán, the 24th Countess of Valencia de Don Juan, to house their collections, among which the decorative arts are particularly noteworthy. The collection consists of pieces gathered by the couple and those inherited from the Counts of Oñate and Valencia de Don Juan.
The Institute is located in the Palacete de Osma (a building declared BIC -asset of cultural interest_ in 1981) designed by the architect Enrique Fort in 1886, in the Neo-Mudejar style with tiles by Daniel Zuloaga on the exterior. 

Adelaida “Adela” Crooke y Guzmán, 24th Countess of Valencia de Don Juan (Madrid, November 20, 1863 – Paris, France, January 17, 1918) was a watercolorist, illustrator, and photographer, as well as a collector and scholar with a deep knowledge of history, art, and literature. She inherited part of the former collections of the Counts of Oñate and Altamira.

Guillermo Joaquín de Osma y Scull (Havana, Cuba, January 24, 1853 – La Negresse, France, February 7, 1922) received a cosmopolitan education, graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris, earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oxford, and served as a diplomat in Madrid, London, and Paris. Upon his marriage in 1888, he settled in Madrid and devoted himself to politics. He was close to Cánovas del Castillo. He served as Minister of Finance under Maura and as President of the Council of State. A scholar and expert collector of works of art, he increasingly focused on this pursuit, with a special interest in the gilded earthenware of Manises (Valencia) and Hispano-Arabic tilework.