Prado Museum: Tickets

Prado Museum Madrid - Tickets and Visitor Information

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What Is The Prado Museum in Madrid?

• The Prado Museum is Spain's national art museum and one of Madrid's most visited cultural attractions.
• Its collection includes works by some of Europe's greatest painters, including Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens and Bosch.
• The museum is in the Paseo del Prado and forms part of the city's Golden Triangle of Art.

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Quick Information

• Prado Museum Address: Calle de Ruiz de Alarcón, 23, 28014, Madrid
• Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 - 20:00. Sunday: 10:00 - 19:00
• Suggested Visit Duration: 3 - 4 hours for a good visit, but you can do it in 1.5 - 2 hours.
• Book Tickets Online

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Is the Prado Museum Worth Visiting?

For most visitors to Madrid, the Prado is one of the city's essential attractions.

• The Prado is often compared with museums such as the Louvre and the National Gallery, but its collection has a different focus.
• Rather than trying to cover every period of art history, the museum is strong in Spanish painting and the works collected by Spain's royal family over several centuries.
• This gives the Prado a distinct character and allows visitors to see many of Spain's most celebrated artworks in a single museum.

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Can You Visit the Prado Museum for Free?

• Yes. The Prado offers free entry to its permanent collection during the final two hours of opening each day.
• Free entry is available from 6pm to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 5pm to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays.
• The free entry periods can be busy, so arriving early is recommended.

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Highlights at the Prado Museum in Madrid

Some of the museum's most famous works include:

• Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
• The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
• The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya
• The Descent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden
• Masterpieces by Titian, Rubens, Raphael and El Greco

The museum contains thousands of works of art, but most visitors focus on the collection of European paintings dating from the 12th to the early 20th century.

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About the Prado Museum Madrid

The Prado Museum opened in 1819 as a way of displaying art owned by the Spanish monarchy.

Over the following two centuries, it developed into Spain's national art museum and one of the country's most visited cultural institutions.

Unlike many museums that aim to represent every artistic movement equally, the Prado's collection reflects the tastes of Spanish kings and queens.

As a result, the museum contains some of the world's most important collections of works by artists such as Velázquez, Goya, Rubens, Titian and Bosch. The royal connection gives the museum a distinctive character and helps explain why certain artists are represented in remarkable depth.

The museum's collection now includes more than 7,000 works dating from the 12th to the early 20th century. Because the collection grew from artworks owned by the Spanish monarchy, it is particularly strong in Spanish painting, although important Italian and Flemish works are also well represented.

The Prado stands on Madrid's Paseo del Prado, a grand boulevard lined with museums, gardens and historic buildings. Together with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofía Museum, it forms the city's famous Golden Triangle of Art.

The museum's historic core is the Villanueva Building, a neoclassical structure designed by architect Juan de Villanueva in the late 18th century. Over the years, additional galleries and exhibition spaces have been added to accommodate the growing collection and temporary exhibitions.

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