The Prado Museum is one of the most famous museums in Europe. It is virtually impossible to take a full tour of the museum in one day – it's just too big. The best thing to do is to visit the museum several times, and each time go see just one artist.
The Prado Museum was founded by Queen Isabella II, the wife of King Ferdinand VII. In 1819 the museum was opened in the current building to serve as the Royal Museum of Spain. The museum features collections of Spanish, Italian, Netherlands', Flemish, and German painting schools. The museum section located in El Cason del Buen Retiro, right behind the main building, on the street of Phillip IV, features collections of Spanish paintings and sculpture of the XIX Century, as well as the works of some British and French artists.
The museum carries the name of the alley where it is located – Prado de San Geronimo, created during the epoch of Enlightenment. Initially the museum was planned as a Museum of Natural Sciences, however the begging of the Independence war with France changed the museum's destiny.
The Prado Museum in Madrid, or, as some Spanish people respectfully refer to it – "Museo del Prado" – maintains one of the largest art collections in Spain. The museum collection includes 6000 paintings, over 400 classical sculptures, and numerous jewelry items. The lion share of art falls to the royal and church collections, and not incidentally, as for several centuries the art of Spain had a honorable place in the art schools of Europe, and developed under the patronage of the crown and the church. The greatest painters of Spain – Velasquez and de Goya, were the official royal painters. Two kings of Spain – Carlos I and Phillip II, were protectors of the Italian painter – Titian. By the way, due to the fact that Spanish kings protected the Italian painter, the Prado Museum now holds almost a comprehensive collection of Titian's work.
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