SPAIN GUIDE

Madrid

The Prado houses the world’s largest and most important 

collection of works by Velasquez, Goya and Rubens 

Welcome to Asturias, a beautiful region in northern Spain that offers a variety of attractions for tourists. Whether you are looking for nature, culture, history, gastronomy, or adventure, Asturias has something for you. In this guide, we will give you some tips and recommendations on how to make the most of your visit to Asturias.

Asturias is known for its green landscapes, rugged mountains, and stunning coastline. The region has two natural parks, Somiedo and Picos de Europa, where you can enjoy hiking, biking, wildlife watching, or even skiing in winter. You can also explore the many caves, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls that dot the region. If you are into surfing, Asturias has some of the best waves in Spain, especially in the towns of Gijón, Salinas, and Tapia de Casariego.

Asturias also has a rich cultural and historical heritage. You can visit the pre-Romanesque monuments of Oviedo, the capital city, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. You can also admire the Romanesque and Gothic architecture of churches and monasteries in towns like Llanes, Cangas de Onís, and Covadonga. Asturias was the birthplace of the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of Spain from the Muslims, and you can learn more about this history in museums and monuments.

The most stunning coastline of Spain

Since the founding of the Museum more than two thousand three hundred paintings and numerous sculptures, prints, drawings and decorative arts pieces have been accumulated, mostly from donations, bequests and purchases.

The building that is now home to the Prado Museum was designed by architect Juan de Villanueva in 1785, as Cabinet of Natural Sciences, by order of Charles III. However, the final purpose of this construction would not be clear until his grandson, Ferdinand VII, driven by his wife Queen Maria Isabel de Braganza, took the decision to use this building to create a Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture.

The Royal Museum, which would soon be renamed National Museum of Painting and Sculpture and subsequently Prado Museum, first opened to the public in 1819. The first catalogue consisted of 311 paintings, although by this time the Museum have a collection of 1510 works from the Royal Sites.

The Prado Museum collection began to take shape from its Royal origins in the sixteenth century under the auspices of Emperor Charles V, and were successively enriched by all the monarchs who succeeded him, both Habsburg and Bourbon. Today we can admire their most iconic treasures in the Prado such as ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymus Bosch, ‘The Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest’ by El Greco, ‘The Death of the Virgin’ by Mantegna, ‘La Sagrada Familia’ known as the Pearl of Rafael, ‘Carlos V in Mühlberg’ by Titian, ‘El Lavatorio’ by Tintoretto ‘The Self-Portrait’ by Goya, ‘Las Meninas’ by Velázquez, ‘The Three Graces’ by Rubens and ‘The Family of Charles IV’ by Goya.

Numerous legacies have also enriched the Museum's collections, such as the Legacy of Don Pablo Bosch with its magnificent collection of medals, the Legacy of Don Pedro Fernández Durán, with its vast collection of drawings and decorative arts.

The Prado Museum always has temporary exhibitions of great importance.

Since January 2012 the Prado Museum has opened its doors to visitors also on Mondays, now making it the largest, most accessible museum with seven days a week opening hours. Due to the magnitude of the collections on display and difficulty deciding what to see; the Prado Museum offers its visitors three routes to meet their masterpieces.

Depending on the time that you have to visit, the Museum has selected 15, 30 and 50 pieces that cover the masterpiece highlights, plus exceptional works of jewelry and sculptures from the museums collection. Three tours through the exhibition rooms guide you through the ‘must see’ European master painters such as Fra Angelico's Annunciation, Tintoretto’s El Lavatorio, The Descent from Roger van der Weyden, Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and Rubens The Three Graces; with key works of the Spanish school such as ‘Las Meninas’ by Velázquez, ‘Dream of Jacob’ by Ribera and Goya’s ‘The Executions’.

In addition, the Prado Museum has an ambitious program of temporary exhibitions, which in recent years have included the exhibits of Tiziano (2003), Manet at the Prado (2004), Tintoretto (2005), Picasso: Tradition and Vanguard (2006), Fables of Velázquez (2007), Francis Bacon (2009), Sorolla (2009), Turner and the Masters (2010), the Young Ribera (2011), the Hermitage in the Prado (2012) and the Last Rafael (2012). 

The Prado Museum is ranked eleventh in the world ranking of most visited museums. 

Thanks n 2009, the Museum became the first museum in the world that facilitates access and browsing images in mega high resolution of 14 masterpieces via the Internet, launching alongside Google project "Masterpieces from the Prado in Google Earth ".

Through Google Earth, you can admire, imperceptible to the human eye,details of the 14 works held in the gallery. Additionally the Prado Museum has made an App Guide ‘Prado’ thus creating a new way to explore, enjoy and learn from the permanent collection of the Prado Museum, with the best quality HD images, navigating within large masterpieces like ‘Las Meninas’ by Velázquez, the ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ by El Greco, the ‘Annunciation’ by Fra Angelico, ‘El Lavatorio’ by Tintoretto; the back of the triptych ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Bosch. Besides the app to the Prado Guide and the Google Earth project "Masterpieces from the Prado in Google Earth", The Prado Museum has a new way to browse and discover the greatest masterpieces from the permanent collection of the Museum: the application Second Canvas Museo del Prado.