Museo del Prado, Spain
Posted On December 2, 2009
The Museo del Prado which is commonly known as Prado is a museum as well as art gallery. Pardo is placed in Madrid, which is the capital of Spain. Pardo showcases few of the world’s finest anthologies of European art belong to the 12th century as lasts up to the early 19th century. It is having its base on the earlier Spanish Royal Collection. Pardo was initially founded as a museum of sculpture as well as various paintings , Pardo does also include significant collections of over five thousands drawings, two thousand prints, one thousand coins and numerous medals, and around two thousand decorative objects and also various works of creative art.
The Sculpture section is signifies itself by the exhibition of over seven hundred works and also a smaller quantity of the sculptural wreckage. The painting section has a collection of about seven thousand eight hundred paintings, out of which only around nine hundred are kept for the public display, the main reason for this is that the museum lack’s in space. A new section has been recently opened which has a large display area which can showcase around four hundred paintings. This area is currently used mostly for temporary expositions held in the Gallery. El Prado is one of the most visited tourist destination in Madrid, also it is measured among the supreme museums of art around the whole world.
The museum has around thirteen thousand paintings on the display also it has been successful in securing the world class status. The Prado has with no trouble have few of the world’s finest collection of Spanish painting, with big numbers of the premium works dis by Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez also by El Greco, Jusepe de Ribera, Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, Francisco de Zurbarán, and also by many other famous Spanish old masters. There are also huge collections of the significant works by the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, Joachim Patiner, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian and Raphael
excellent examples of the works of Botticelli, Guido Reni, Caravaggio, Andrea Mantegna, Orazio Gentileschi, Albrecht Dürer, Veronese, Rembrandt, Hans Baldung Grien, Artemisia Gentileschi, Fra Angelico, Van der Weyden, Antonello da Messina, Claude Gellée,Thomas Gainsborough, Nicolas Poussin, Thomas Lawrence, and many such other prominent artists are also on exhibit in the museum.
The most famous work which is also kept on the display in permanent section of the museum is Las Meninas created by
Velázquez. Velázquez artworks are not only showcased in Prado but also in many other world-class museums. Velázquez intense eye and receptivity was also liable for bringing the huge collection of the Italian masters from all across the world and to be placed in the Pardo in Spain. After the restoration of democracy the well known work of Pablo Picasso called Guernica was displayed in the museum for some time when it returned to Spain. In the year 1992 the artwork was moved to the Museo Reina Sofía museum as all the works which belonged to the later 19th century was transferred to the other building due to the space problems.
The structure of the Museo del Prado building was been made during the rule of Charles III who was also known as Carlos III and was a part of the extravagant construction plan intended to grant upon Madrid a massive urban space. The construction that has the Museum of the Prado was originally conjured up by Conde de Floridablanca and José Moñino y Redondo and was also commissioned by Charles III in the year 1785 for the reorganization of the Paseo del Prado. In the end, Juan de Villanueva who is one the favorite architects of Charles III was been called to Mardid.
Around the Museo del Prado are other different two national museums named the Museo Arqueológico which showcases some artworks of the Ancient Egypt, Greece as well as Mesopotamia and Rome. Previously in the Prado Collection the museum Museo Reina Sofía exhibits the 20th-century artwork. These two different museums do act as a 
supplement to the Prado museum. Also Buen Retiro as well as Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum are located in the vicinity of the Museo del Prado
Madrid Barajas International Airport is the closest available airport. It has a good international as well as national network. From the airport you can try taking a taxi or a car if you want to hail strait to the Prado museum Good food as well as accommodation is available near the museum. You will come across many tour guides.
The museum is open for the public visit from Tuesday to Sunday. Every week it is closed on Sunday. The museum opens at nine in the morning and gets closed by eight in the evening. The entrance fees to the museum are €8 for the adult and €4 for the children.
