Prado Museum

The Prado Museum is the main art museum in Spain, located in the center of Madrid. It presents works of the Spanish, Flemish, Italian schools, works of artists of other schools and sculptors from different countries. The institution received its name Prado from the park in which it was built.

A little history

Spanish King Carlos III decided to open the Cabinet of Natural History. For the Cabinet, the king ordered the construction of a building in the center of the capital. The project was entrusted to the architect Juan de Villanueva. The construction of the Prado Museum was completed only by Carlos' grandson Ferdinand VII. Ferdinand's wife, Queen Maria Isabel de Braganza, decided to open the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures in the new building, which she did in 1819. The museum was later renamed the National Prado Museum.

The discovery had two goals:

• Show the world the magnificent royal collection of paintings and sculptures.
• Prove to the world the high level of skill of the Spanish school of painting and sculpture.

The first catalog prepared for the opening of the museum included only 311 paintings by Spanish masters alone, although the museum presented more than 1.5 thousand works by artists of different schools.

Description

The basis of the Prado Museum is a collection of paintings that belonged to the royal house. It was replenished over several centuries. Especially active - in the 16th century. The Habsburgs and Bourbons later made their significant contribution. Through the efforts of the ruling royalty, the collection acquired works by El Greco, Raphael, Tintoretto, Durer, Velazquez, Rubens, Goya, and Bosch. These masterpieces now serve as priceless decorations and are a source of great pride for the Prado Museum.

The institution's collection is regularly replenished. In the 19th century Several museums were closed, the collections of which were transferred to the Prado. Some of the paintings were transferred to the museum by inheritance and as donations.

In 1868 the museum was nationalized and renamed National. The collection could hardly fit into the walls of the museum. In 1918, several pavilions were added to the building, and later neighboring buildings were annexed. In 2007, another new building was built by the architect R. Moneo. The new building is called the Moneo Cube, and is harmoniously combined with the overall architecture of the museum.

Today, the collection of the Prado Museum includes more than 8 thousand works. Only about 2 thousand are used as permanent exhibitions. The museum's collection contains 40 works by Titian, Spanish, Flemish, French, German, and English painting. In the halls located in the basements, an exhibition of sculptures is presented.

More than 2 million people visit the Prado Museum every year. Among the presented paintings you must see:

• D. Velazquez "Las Meninas";
• El Greco "Adoration of the Shepherds";
• F. Goya "Portrait of the Family of Charles IV";
• I. Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights";
• P. P. Rubens "The Three Graces".

It is interesting that the building does not have a room with number 13. In 1936-39, the great master Pablo Picasso was the manager of the Prado Museum.