Museums in Madrid Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums. Best known is the
Golden Triangle of Art, located along the
Paseo del Prado and comprising three museums. The most famous one is the
Museo del Prado, known for such highlights as
Diego Velázquez's
Las Meninas and
Francisco de Goya's
La maja vestida and
La maja desnuda. The other two museums are the
Thyssen Bornemisza Museum, established from a mixed private collection, and the
Reina Sofia Museum, where
Pablo Picasso's
Guernica hangs, returning to Spain from New York after more than two decades. The
Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery that 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. The collection currently comprises around 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings, in addition to a large number of works of art and historic documents. El Prado is one of the most visited museums in the world, and it is considered to be among the greatest museums of art. It has the best collection of paintings by Goya, Velázquez,
El Greco,
Patinir,
José de Ribera, and other Spanish artists, as well as major collections of
Rubens,
Titian,
Hieronymus Bosch,
Rogier van der Weyden,
Raphael,
Tintoretto,
Veronese,
Caravaggio,
Van Dyck,
Albrecht Dürer,
Claude Lorrain,
Murillo and
Zurbarán, among others. (MNCARS). The
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) is the
Spain's national
museum of 20th-century
art. The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's greatest 20th-century masters,
Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dalí,
Joan Miró,
Juan Gris and
Julio González. Certainly the most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso's painting
Guernica. The Reina Sofía also hosts a free-access library specializing in art, with a collection of over 100,000 books, over 3,500 sound recordings and almost 1,000 videos. The
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is an art museum that fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections: in the Prado's case this includes Early Italian painting and works from the
English,
Dutch and German schools, while in the case of the Reina Sofia the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, once the second largest private collection in the world after the British
Royal Collection, includes
Impressionists,
Expressionists, and European and American paintings from the second half of the 20th century, with over 1,600 paintings. The
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando currently functions as a museum and gallery that houses a fine art collection of paintings from the 15th to 20th centuries:
Giovanni Bellini,
Correggio,
Rubens,
Zurbarán,
Murillo,
Goya,
Juan Gris,
Pablo Serrano. The academy is also the headquarters of the Madrid Academy of Art.
Francisco Goya was once one of the academy's directors, and, its alumni include
Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dalí,
Antonio López García,
Juan Luna, and
Fernando Botero. ,
Royal Palace of Madrid. The
Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of
Felipe VI of Spain, but he uses it only for official acts. It is a baroque palace full of artworks and one of the largest European Royal Palaces, which is characterized by its luxurious rooms and its rich collections of armors and weapons, pharmaceutical, silverware, watches, paintings, tapestries and the most comprehensive collection of
Stradivarius in the world The
National Archaeological Museum of Spain collection includes, among others,
Pre-historic,
Celtic,
Iberian,
Greek and
Roman antiquities and
medieval (
Visigothic,
Muslim and Christian) objects. Highlights include a replica of the
Altamira cave (the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings were discovered),
Lady of Elche (an enigmatic polychrome stone bust),
Lady of Baza (a famous example of Iberian sculpture),
Biche of Balazote (an Iberian sculpture) and
Treasure of Guarrazar (a treasure that represents the best surviving group of Early Medieval Christian votive offerings and the high point of Visigothic goldsmith's work). The
Museum of the Americas is a national museum that holds artistic, archaeological and ethnographic collections from the whole
Americas, ranging from the
Paleolithic period to the present day. The permanent exhibit is divided into five major thematical areas: an awareness of the Americas, the reality of the Americas, society, religion and communication. The
National Museum of Natural Sciences is the
National Museum of
Natural History of
Spain. The research departments of the museum are:
Biodiversity and
Evolutionary Biology,
Evolutionary Ecology,
Paleobiology,
Vulcanology and
Geology. The
Naval Museum is managed by the Ministry of Defence. The Museum's mission is to acquire, preserve, investigate, report and display for study, education and contemplation, parts, sets and collections of historical, artistic, scientific and technical related to naval activity in order to disseminate the story sea of Spain; to help illustrate, highlight and preserve their traditions and promote national maritime awareness. '', Francisco de Goya.
Lázaro Galdiano Museum. The
Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales resides in the former palace of King
Charles I of Spain and
Isabel of Portugal. Their daughter,
Joan of Austria, founded this convent of nuns of the
Poor Clare order in 1559. Throughout the remainder of the 16th century and into the 17th century, the convent attracted young widowed or spinster noblewomen. Each woman brought with her a dowry. The riches quickly piled up, and the convent became one of the richest convents in all of Europe. It has many works of Renaissance and Baroque art, including a recumbent Christ by Gaspar Becerra, a staircase whose paintings were painted by unknown author (perhaps Velázquez) and they are considered of the masterpieces of Spanish illusionist painting, and
Brussels tapestries inspired by paintings of Rubens. The
Museum of Lázaro Galdiano houses an encyclopedic collection specializing in decorative arts. Apart from paintings and sculptures it displays 10th-century Byzantine enamel; Arab and Byzantine ivory chests; Hellenistic, Roman, medieval, renaissance, baroque and romantic jewelry;
Pisanello and
Pompeo Leoni medals; Spanish and Italian ceramics; Italian and Arab clothes and a collection of weapons including the sword of Pope
Innocent VIII. The
Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (National Museum of Decorative Arts) is one of the oldest museums in the city. It illustrates the evolution of the called "minor arts" (furniture, ceramics and glass, textile, etc.). Its 60 rooms expones 15,000 objects, of the approximate 40,000 which it has. The Museo Nacional del Romanticismo (National Museum of Romanticism) contains a large collection of artefacts and art, focusing on daily life and customs of the 19th century, with special attention to the aesthetics about Romanticism. The Museo Cerralbo houses a private collection of ancient works of art, artifacts and other antiquities collected by Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, XVII Cerralbo Marquis. The
National Museum of Anthropology provides an overview of the different cultures in the world, with objects and human remains from around the world, highlighting a
Guanche mummy of the island of Tenerife. Madrid. The Museo Sorolla is located in the building in which the Valencian Impressionist painter had his home and workshop. The collection includes, in addition to numerous works of
Joaquín Sorolla, a large number of objects that possessed the artist, including sculptures by
Auguste Rodin.
CaixaForum Madrid is a post-modern art gallery in the centre of Madrid. It is sponsored by the Catalan-Balearic bank la Caixa and located next to the Salón del Prado. Although the CaixaForum is a modern building, it also exhibits retrospectives of artists from earlier time periods and has evolved into one of the most visited museums in Madrid. It was constructed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron from 2001 to 2007, which combined an old unused industrial building and hollowed it out at the base and inside and placed on top further floors which are encased with rusted steel. Next to it is an art installation of green plants growing on the wall of the neighbouring house by French botanist Patrick Blanc. The red of the top floors with the green of the wall next to it form a contrast. The green is in reflection of the neighbouring Royal Botanical Gardens. Other art galleries and museums in Madrid include: •
Royal Palace of Madrid •
National Archaeological Museum of Spain •
Spanish Air Force Museum •
Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales • Railway Museum • Museum Sorolla
Museums in Barcelona . . . . . This is a list of museums in
Barcelona (
Catalonia) and in its surrounding metropolitan area. •
Archaeology Museum of Barcelona (MAC) •
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) •
Museu del Modernisme Català MMCAT •
CaixaForum Barcelona •
Casa Àsia •
Centre d'Art Santa Mònica (CASM) •
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) •
Cosmocaixa Barcelona (former
Museu de la Ciència de Barcelona) •
Espai Gaudí (La Pedrera) •
Fundació Antoni Tàpies •
Olympic and Sports Museum Joan Antoni Samaranch •
Fundació Joan Miró •
Fundació Suñol •
FC Barcelona Museum •
Gracia Arts Project •
Royal Palace of Pedralbes •
Museu de Ceràmica •
Museu de les Arts Decoratives •
Museu Tèxtil i d'Indumentària •
Moco Museum Barcelona •
Museu d'Autòmates •
Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí •
Museu del Calçat •
Museu de Cera de Barcelona •
Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona • Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona (the main exhibition site, at the
Forum Building) • (the historical site where the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona was founded in 1882, but contained the Geology Museum from 1924 to 2010) • , at the
Castle of the Three Dragons (from 1920 to 2010: Zoology Museum) •
Botanical garden of Barcelona • •
Museu del Clavegueram •
Museu del Còmic i la Il·lustració •
Egyptian Museum of Barcelona •
Museu de l'Eròtica de Barcelona •
Museu Etnològic de Barcelona •
Museu Frederic Marès •
Museu Gaudí •
Museu d'Història de Catalunya •
Museu d'Història de la Ciutat •
Centre d'Interpretació del Park Güell •
Museu Marítim •
Museu Militar de Barcelona (closed May 2009) •
Museu de la Música de Barcelona •
National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) •
Museu del Perfum - Fundació Planas Giralt •
Museu Picasso •
Museu Taurí •
Museu de la Xocolata •
Palau de la Virreina •
Palau Robert •
Sala Ciutat •
Sagrada Familia Other major museums in Spain beach. •
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum •
Carmen Thyssen Museum in
Málaga •
City of Arts and Sciences in
Valencia •
Dalí Theatre and Museum in
Figueres •
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao •
IVAM (Valencia) •
Museo Picasso Málaga •
Centro Pompidou Málaga •
Museu de Belles Arts de València •
National Museum of Sculpture in
Valladolid •
Museum of Fine Arts of Seville == Impact of COVID-19 ==