Duration: 2 hr. 30 min
Suited for: in-depth exploration
Why go for it?
Recommended Tours:
Madrid’s Prado Museum and El Retiro Park Guided Tour
Guided Tour of Landscape of Art & Science with Skip-the-Line Tickets to Prado Museum
Duration: Flexible
Suited for: budget travellers
Why go for it?
Recommended Tours:
Combo (Save 5%): Prado Museum + Royal Palace of Madrid Skip-the-Line Tickets
Prado Museum is one of the most popular and most visited museums not just in Spain but also in the world. Here are a few reasons why you should take a Prado Museum tour.
Prado Museum has a vast collection of European paintings. Here's what you will see on your Prado Museum tour.
Prado Museum boasts a huge collection of 2800 Spanish paintings from the 12th to 19th centuries. It has focused on displaying extensive works of individual artists. For instance, there are 140 art pieces by Goya and 48 artworks by Velazquez on display at the museum. The seven galleries on the ground floor of the museum are home to several artworks of other iconic Spanish painters like Greco, Juan de Flandes, Luis Meléndez, Pedro Berruguete, and Luis de Morales, to name a few.
Italian and French paintings made it to the Prado Museum only during the 16th century. Until then, the Spanish monarchs were not too keen on commissioning Italian, Venetian, and French painters except Titian whose works dominate the collection at the museum. Other painters whose artworks are on display at Prado Museum include Caravaggio, Luca Giordano, Guido Reni, Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, Antonello da Messina, Jacopa Bassano, and Georges de la Tour, among others.
Prado Museum’s collection also includes over 1,000 Flemish paintings. Notable artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, Raphael, Rogier Van der Weyden, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, to name a few. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the oil painting technique flourished. A joint rule made it easy for the Spanish monarchs to get their hands on the best Flemish paintings and exhibit them at the museum. Some of the prominent and iconic artworks include Descent from the Cross, Adoration of the Magi, The Triumph of Death, and Saint George and the Dragon, among others.
The Villanueva building inside the museum houses a large collection of almost 2700 19th-century artworks that were borrowed in 1971 from Museo de Arte Moderno, the Spanish National Museum. Displayed across 12 galleries, the artworks include themes ranging from neoclassical to romanticism. A few prominent works of art include Boys on the Beach by Joaquin Sorolla, Nude Boy on the Beach at Portici by Mariano Fortuny, and The Death of Viriatus by Jose de Madrazo, to name a few.
Made on the orders of the Spanish monarchs, Museo Nacional del Prado is home to 1000 pieces of sculpture and around 3500 pieces of decorative arts, including some from the Baroque and Renaissance periods. Some must-see pieces include Charles V and the Fury (a sculpture of Emperor Charles V), Epimetheus and Pandora (made of wood and painted with oils), and The Dauphin’s Treasure (a group of vessels made of hardstones like gold, diamonds, silver, and other precious gems).
Another collection worth admiring at the museum is that of their prints, drawings, and photographs. Prado Museum has a massive collection of 10,000 photographs, 9,000 drawings, and 6,000 prints. In 1931, Spanish aristocrat Pedro Fernandez Duran bequeathed about 2,000 drawings from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including the preparatory drawings of the Last Judgment fresco by Michelangelo. The Spanish and Italian drawings, the Goya collection of prints and letters, and Juan de Villanueva’s Ground Plan and Elevation of the Museum drawings are a few must-see works of art at the museum.
Yes. You can book a Prado Museum tour here.
You can book a Prado Museum guided tour online.
Prado Museum tours are priced at €35 and above.
There are two types of Prado Museum tours available – the Prado Museum Guided Tour and the Royal Palace of Madrid and Prado Museum guided tour.
Your Prado Museum tour includes a visit to all the galleries as well as a glimpse of the major and noteworthy artworks inside the attraction.
The Prado Museum guided tours are available in two languages – English and Spanish.
The Prado Museum guided tour covers all the major artworks inside.
It depends on the type of Prado Museum tour you book. The small group guided tour will have no more than 10 people while the other guided tours have a maximum capacity of 25 guests.
Yes. The Prado Museum tour is worth it because it is one of the most iconic and important art museums in the world. Their collection comprises over 20,000 artworks of legendary artists like Velazquez, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Francisco de Goya, and Rembrandt, among others.
A. Yes. The Prado Museum tours include skip the line access.
Yes. You can cancel your Prado Museum tour tickets up to 24 hours before the scheduled date and get a full refund.
The Prado Museum guided tour is 2 hours long.
Yes. Discounts are available for the Prado Museum tours. Find the best deals before booking your tickets.