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Not a museum
The building was designed to house a natural history cabinet
Juan de Villanueva designed the building in 1785 on the orders of Charles III to house the Natural History Cabinet. Ferdinand VII, encouraged by his wife, decided to use it as a Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures, and it opened to the public in November 1819.
311 paintings
The first catalogue listed 311 paintings, from 1,510 in store
The first catalogue, published in 1819 and devoted solely to Spanish painting, included 311 paintings, although the museum then housed 1,510 from the royal residences. The collection began growing significantly in the 16th century under Charles V.
A gift
Goya's Black Paintings came to the Prado as a gift in 1881
Among the donations, Barón Emile d'Erlanger gave Goya's Black Paintings in 1881. The museum was nationalized in 1868, when Isabella II was deposed, and took the name Museo del Prado.
Evacuated
In the Civil War its paintings were sent to Geneva and back by night train
During the Spanish Civil War, on the recommendation of the League of Nations, the staff removed 353 paintings and 168 drawings, and sent the art to Valencia, then Girona, and finally Geneva. It had to be returned across French territory on night trains when World War II began.
In store
Most of the collection is not on the walls
The collection has around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints and 1,000 sculptures. As of 2012 the museum displayed about 1,300 works in its main buildings, while about 3,100 were on loan and the remainder were in storage.
Day 2, morning
Next is Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Museo del Prado, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.