The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery located in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture, it also contains important collections of more than 5,000 drawings, 2,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and almost 2,000 decorative objects and works of art. Sculpture is represented by more than 700 works and by a smaller number of sculptural fragments.

Collections

Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez, is the musuem's most famous work of art.

La maja desnuda, by Francisco de Goya, is another one of the musuem's most famous works of art.

The best known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez. Velázquez not only provided the Prado with his own works, but his keen eye and sensibility was also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain.

Pablo Picasso's renowned work, Guernica, was exhibited in the Prado upon its return to Spain after the restoration of democracy, but was moved to the Museo Reina Sofía in 1992 as part of a transfer of all works later than the early 19th century to other buildings for space reasons.

Building

Facade of the musuem

The Museo del Prado is one of the buildings constructed during the reign of Charles III (Carlos III) as part of a grandiose building scheme designed to bestow upon Madrid a monumental urban space. The building that lodges the Museum of the Prado was initially conceived by Jose Moñino and Redondo, count of Floridablanca and was commissioned in 1785 by Charles III for the reurbanización of the Paseo del Prado. To this end, Charles III called on one of its favorite architects, Juan de Villanueva, author also of the nearby Botanical Garden and the City Hall of Madrid^[2]. This "prado" (meaning meadow in Spanish) gave its name to the area (Salón del Prado, later Paseo del Prado), and later still to the museum itself upon nationalisation. Work on the building stopped between the conclusion of Charles III's reign and during the Peninsular War and was only initiated again during the reign of Charles III's grandson, Ferdinand VII. The structure was used as headquarters for the cavalry and a gunpowder-store for the Napoleonic troops based in Madrid during the War of Independence.

History and Expansion

The museum was opened in 1819. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado. The building housed the royal collection of arts and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918.

A war elephant from the church of San Baudelio de Berlanga, on display at the Romanesque chamber

One of the main promenade entrances to the Prado is dominated by this bronze statue of Diego Velázquez.

The last enlargement (2007), designed by architect Rafael Moneo, is an underground building which connects the main building to another one entirely reconstructed.

Very close to the Prado, the Villahermosa Palace houses the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the bulk of whose collection was originally privately gathered and not part of the state collection, but which well serves to fill the gaps and weaknesses of the Prado's collection, such as Dutch and German painting; the Thyssen Bornemisza has been controlled as part of the Prado system since 1985.^[3]

During the Spanish Civil War, upon the recommendation of the League of Nations, the museum staff removed 353 paintings, 168 drawings and the Dauphin's Treasure and sent the art to Valencia, then later to Girona and finally to Geneva. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II.

In 2007, the Museum executed the Moneo's project to expand its exposition room to 16.000 square meters, hoping to increase the yearly number of visitors from 1,8 million to 2,5 million. The 16th century Cloister of Jerónimo has been removed stone by stone, to make foundations for increased stability of surrounding buildings, and will be re-assembled in the new museum?s extension. Hydraulic jacks had to be used to prevent the basement walls from falling during extension ^[4].

Nearby Museums

Nearby Museo del Prado are two other national museums: the Museo Arqueológico houses some art of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome formerly in the Prado Collection; the Museo Reina Sofía houses 20th century artwork. Supplementing the Prado with these two museums, as well as the Buen Retiro and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (all within a short walk of each other).

Works of Art

<gallery> Image:Fra Angelico 095.jpg|The Annuntiation, 1430-1432, by Fra Angelico Image:Weyden Deposition.jpg|Descent of Christ from the Cross, 1435,by Rogier van der Weyden Image:Albrecht Dürer 103.jpg|Self-portrait, 1480,by Albrecht Dürer Image:GardenED.jpg|The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1503-1504,by Hieronymus Bosch Image:Charles V at Mühlberg.jpg|Charles V at Mühlberg, 1548,by Titian Image:Greco Trinity.jpeg|The Holy Trinity, 1577?1579, by El Greco Image:El Greco, The Knight with His Hand on His Breast.JPG|The Knight with His Hand on His Breast, c. 1580, by El Greco Image:Velazquez-The Surrenderof Breda.jpg|The Surrender of Breda, 1634-1635, by Diego Velázquez Image:Peter Paul Rubens 026.jpg|The Three Graces, 1636-1638, by Peter Paul Rubens Image:Francisco de Zurbarán 006.jpg|Agnus Dei, 1635-1640, by Francisco Zurbarán Image:La Inmaculada de Soult, 1678, Bartolomé E. Murillo.jpg|La Inmaculada de Soult, 1678, by Bartolomé Estéban Murillo Image:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes 054.jpg|Charles IV of Spain and His Family, 1800-1801,by Francisco de Goya

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References

External links

• Museo del Prado's website
• Plaza del Prado, the 15 main paintings
• The Prado Plaza - History and Photos
• Works of Art Owned by the Prado
• The Prado Plaza - Description and Photos
• Information about the Prado museum (map, price, contact, opening hours...

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