Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to have one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works.

El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection.

The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic documents.

The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside Italy.

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User Reviews

Mister Morelight (11 months ago)
Avoid at all costs, by far, worst experience in our whole trip in Spain. I have double checked this: both on their website and/or during the buying process they do not inform customers that they forbid you to take pictures. They know that if they are honest, they will lose sales, so they purposely do not inform you. Bait and switch. There is also no signage whatsoever as you walk in. So I did what I do at every decent museum that has that name: I took a picture of the first statue. Immediately, I was scolded violently by one of their security agents (who act like prison guards). I have never been talked this way my entire life. Completely unhinged. I was really taken aback by the aggressiveness, which it seems, is obviously supported by management. How are we supposed to know? And if knew, I would have never bought a ticket. The museum itself is not great. It tends to have the same profile of dark pictures. Yeah, I understand these are “masters” but there are way better museum collection out there. And they all let you take pictures. Every museum in the world lets you take pictures. Except here. Unless of course you want to force people to buy the pictures/books at the gift shop. Pretty evident this is the end game here. The hostility of the prison guards as you go about your visit will be remarkable. Sometimes they stalk you very intently, there is a lot of hostility towards their customers. I have never seen so much aggressivity for such a benign act as taking a picture. Disproportionate. At one point, someone started to play the piano and the sound was so loud (because it’s all hard surfaces), it reverberated all around the museum. Unbearably bad experience. Not worth it. Move on. There is a better museum out there. P.S.: please leave a ❤️ if this review was useful in avoiding this awful experience, thank you ?

Ferdinand Hill (12 months ago)
We visited this fantastic gem for free. Despite the long line and high temperatures, it was worth it. Just bring an umbrella and arrive an hour early +. The experience and the people were wonderful. If you are a tourist, simply admire, let others admire, respect the place, and be silent.

Mustafa Mbari (12 months ago)
My visit to the del Prado Museum in Madrid was generally a good experience. The place is beautiful, and the arrangement of the paintings was also lovely. However, unfortunately, there were only paintings, and many of them were quite similar. About 80% of the paintings belong to the same old style, and I didn't see anything new or different. I hope they add more variety to the exhibits to make the experience more enriching

Cory Lefebvre (12 months ago)
What can be said about the Prado that hasn't been said already. This is a world-class museum. We were there for 3 hours and we're still only able to see half the rooms. It's incredible to see the fine arts students painting right next to masterpieces. No photos please! Don't be that tourist!

Giovanni De Chiara (12 months ago)
Really liked the fact that is free for students under 25 and all the others reductions. Goya section is stunning and definitely deserves a visit. The other artists are well represented too, totally worth it.

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There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

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