The Prado Museum is Spain’s premier art museum, founded by King Ferdinand
VII in 1819 which has a collection of paintings from the 12th to the early
20th century. It houses the largest and most important collection of
Velázquez, Goya and Rubens in the world. It includes several of the great
masterpieces of European painting, including Rogier van der Weyden’s
Descent from the Cross, Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, El Greco’s
Portrait of a Man with his Hand on his Chest, Velázquez’s Las Meninas, and
Goya’s The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808. It also includes
collections of ancient sculpture, decorative arts, and drawings, prints and
photographs, including the world’s largest and most important group of
works on paper by Goya. In 2007 the Prado opened its new extension, designed
by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo, which provides the Museum
with new spaces for exhibitions, conservation and storage.