The Prado art gallery turns 200 – unshackled

The Museo del Prado turns 200 as a top tourist magnet for Madrid and with long-awaited freedom to choose its own path. One of Spain’s national museums, it is marking the bicentenary with an ambitious redevelopment project and special exhibitions of its prized works.

The Prado opened in 1819 as a gallery to exhibit the collection of Ferdinand VII, a monarch who possessed the best art from the European countries over which Spain once reigned.

Political headwinds buffeted the museum until a law was passed in 2003 that gave it substantial autonomy. In an interview with Art Newspaper about the bicentenary, Prado Director Miguel Falomir Faus explained that at one time directors came and went with each political quarrel. "The Prado was sometimes a weapon," he explained, "used by one political party against the other."

He credits former director Miguel Zugaza with shepherding the Prado’s transformation from a sleepy museum with a rich Old Master collection, an uninspired exhibition program and a shabby building into what has become a vibrant place that welcomes millions of visitors each year.

"It had a tiny, tiny education department," Falomir recalls, and "most of the time the shows were ‘Velázquez, Goya and El Greco’ and then ‘El Greco, Goya and Velázquez.’"

A major redevelopment project is aimed at extending the transformation. The British architect Sir Norman Foster is designing the €45m refurbishment of the the Salón de Reinos (Hall of Realms), which was once part of the royal palace complex and more recently Spain’s Museum of the Army. Government financing, fundraising and ticket sales are paying for the project.

In imperial-era Spain, the Hall of Realms displayed large history paintings, which included The Surrender of Breda by Velázquez and royal equestrian portraits. Many of these pictures will return to the redeveloped spaces, alongside great works now in storage.