Santander's extensive art museum offers a large, eclectic collection spanning the 16th to 21st centuries. Much of it is secondary Spanish art, though you'll find the odd curio such as Goya's portrait of King Fernando VII, and the contemporary layout of some sections brings out intriguing connections between contrasting works. In an equally portentous building next door is the Biblioteca de Menéndez Pelayo , a vast old library built in 1915 to house the 41,500 books bequeathed to the city by local teacher, philosopher and poet Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856–1912). Behind the library stands his family home, the Casa Museo de Menéndez Pelayo .
