Democracy in the museum. The foundation and permanent exhibition of the Museo Adolfo Suárez y la Transición

This article examines the recently founded Museo Adolfo Suárez y la Transición – the first Spanish museum dedicated to the Transition to Democracy. Through considering museums as important institutions for the formation of national identities, the article explores the foundation of the museum and its current permanent exhibition in the context of competing narratives of contemporary Spanish history. In doing so, it will be argued that in the context of this museum, the Spanish Transition, as the founding myth for the democratic Spanish nation, also serves to silence the more problematic Spanish history of the twentieth century.