Proud Prado

In September 2015 the world-famous travel site TripAdvisor announced the Travelers’ Choice Award winners for the best-rated museums in the world. Fourth on their list is Madrid’s Museo del Prado, ahead of Paris’ Louvre which came in fifth place. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) is No. 1, followed by the Musee d’Orsay in Paris at second place and the Art Institute of Chicago at third place. The enumeration was based on an algorithm that evaluated the “quantity and quality” of reviews received through TripAdvisor over the past year.

The Museo del Prado, located in central Madrid, features one of the world’s finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of Spanish art, including Velázquez, Goya, Tiziano, Rubens, Rembrandt, El Greco, El Bosco, Mantegna and Durero, to name a few. While most museums are closed at least one day a week, in 2012 the Prado moved to a seven-day-a-week schedule and extended its hours until 8pm on weekdays. That followed a redesign in 2007 by renowned architect Rafael Moneo that improved the circulation at the museum.

On December 10th this year the Prado presented its new website, which places it at the forefront of computerized art institutions with an internet version that makes the e-visit unique. The online experience of the Museum uses a module-based structure that enables connections between the more than 10,000 works of art and more than 1,800 artists in its collection, as well as other artifacts which the museum shares on the new web: more than 20,000 accesses to lectures, activities, exhibitions and documents. What can’t be experienced online is the so-called art selfie, not allowed throughout the venerable awe-inspiring museum.