Museo del Prado

Overview

The Museo del Prado is one of the world's supreme art museums, housing the single richest collection of European painting anywhere on earth. Its 8,000+ works span the 12th to early 20th centuries, with unrivalled holdings of Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, and Bosch.

Highlights

• Las Meninas: Velázquez's 1656 masterpiece, a painting-within-a-painting that has captivated artists and philosophers for nearly four centuries.
• The Garden of Earthly Delights: Hieronymus Bosch's surreal, hallucinatory triptych depicting paradise, earthly pleasure, and damnation.
• The Black Paintings: Goya's 14 nightmarish murals, painted directly onto the walls of his house in old age, including the terrifying Saturn Devouring His Son.

History

Founded in 1819 by King Ferdinand VII in a neoclassical building originally designed by Juan de Villanueva in 1785 as a natural history museum. The royal collections that form its core were amassed by the Spanish Habsburgs and Bourbons over centuries of patronage and conquest.

Visitor Tips

• Free Hours: Entry is free Monday–Saturday 18:00–20:00 and Sundays/holidays 17:00–19:00, but expect long queues.
• Strategy: The collection is enormous. Focus on a single floor or era per visit rather than trying to see everything.
• Duration: 2–3 hours minimum.