Prado

Prado (prä'dō, Span. prä'&thstrok;ō) [key], Spanish national museum of painting and sculpture, Madrid, one of the finest in Europe. Situated on the Paseo del Prado, it was begun by Juan de Villanueva in 1785 for Charles III, as a museum of natural history, and finished under Ferdinand VII; the inaugural ceremony took place in 1819, when the collection consisted entirely of Spanish paintings. It was maintained by the royal family and called the Royal Museum until 1868, when it became national property. The Spanish, Flemish, and Venetian schools are particularly well represented in its collection. There are outstanding masterpieces of Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck, Dürer, Brueghel, and Hieronymus Bosch; and Velázquez, El Greco, Ribera, and Goya can be seen nowhere else to such advantage. In 1894 the museum's contemporary paintings were transferred to the Patrimonio Nacional. A large new extension to the museum designed by Rafael Moneo opened in 2007.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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