Museo del Prado - Madrid
Address	Paseo del Prado s/n (Madrid)
Phone	+34 91-330-28-00
Hours	Tues-Sat 9am-7pm; Sun and holidays 9am-2pm
Prices	Admission 3€ adults, 1.50€ ($1.70) students and seniors
Website	museoprado.mcu.es
eMail	museo.nacional@prado.mcu.es

No other museum offers such an outstanding overview of Spanish painting from the 12th to the early 19th C. as the Prado. A visit to this amazing museum is undoubtedly one of the high points of a stay in Madrid. The Prado Museum began as a royal collection and was enlarged by the Hapsburgs, especially Charles V, and later the Bourbons. In 1819 under Ferdinand VII it was opened as a "Museum for the Royal Collection of Paintings".

With more than 7,000 paintings, of which some 2,300 are on display to the public in 120 rooms, arranged over three storys; the Prado is one of the most important repositories of art in the world. The Prado undisputedly has the world's finest collections of works by Spain's Diego Vel�zquez (1599-1660). You'll find a splendid array of his works here, such as his most famous painting, Las Meninas, a triumph in the use of light effects. Also, this museum has the finest collection of works by Francisco Goya and the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (a personal favorite of King Philip II of Spain). Likewise, major Italian works are exhibited on the ground floor. You'll see art by Italian masters such as Raphael, Botticelli, Mantegna, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Angelico, and Correggio. In the same way the Prado Museum also has excellent collections of El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Bartolom� Est�ban Murillo. Fine examples of the works of Melozzo da Forl�, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Albrecht D�rer, Rembrandt, Veronese, Hans Baldung, Fra Angelico, van der Weyden, among other notable artists.

Also in this museum there is an important collection of sculptures. The sculpture here is represented by more than 700 works and by a smaller number of sculptural fragments. The bewilderingly vast range of works of arts owned by the museum makes a detailed description impossible.

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