There is disclosed a magnetic bearing which is an improvement over conventional radial magnetic bearings, and has a very small bearing loss. At least three U-shaped laminates 10 of electromagnetic steel sheets are circumferentially arranged around a rotation shaft 1, and are fixedly mounted on a housing 100. Exciting coils 31 and 32 are wound on each electromagnetic steel sheet laminate 10, and permanent magnets 20 and 21 are provided in the laminate 10. Rotor cores 2, each comprising a laminate of I-shaped electromagnetic steel sheets stacked together in the circumferential direction, are mounted on the rotation shaft 1 in such a manner that each rotor core 2 is opposed to magnetic pole surfaces of the electromagnetic steel sheet laminates 10. In accordance with a signal from position sensors 5 which detect the radial position of the rotation shaft 1, control current is caused to flow through the exciting coils 31 and 32 to thereby control the position of the rotation shaft 1. Thus, merely by causing the control current to flow through the exciting coils 31 and 32 when this is required, the control of the rotation shaft 1 can be achieved, and with this method, the energy consumption can be much reduced.