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City Guide  - Madrid  - Key Attractions
Key Attractions

Museo del Prado
The 213-year-old Prado Museum has undergone an extensive renovation to reclaim its position among Europe's greatest galleries. Within its 4000-strong collection of sixteenth- to early nineteenth-century paintings, are masterpieces by Fra Angelico, Botticelli, El Bosco, Titian, Rembrandt and Velázquez, as well as evidence of the astonishing development of Goya, from his sun-soaked early paintings of dances and festivities to the grim madness of his black period.

Paseo del Prado
Tel: (91) 330 2800/2900. Fax: (91) 330 2856.
E-mail: museo.nacional@prado.mcu.es
Website: http://museoprado.mcu.es
Transport: Metro Atocha or Banco de España; or bus 9, 14, 27, 34 or 37.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 0900-1900 and Sun 0900-1400.
Admission: Pta500 (concessions available); free Sat and Sun 1430-1900.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Madrid purchased the private collection of Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza after a nine-and-a-half-year loan, instantly enriching the city's fund of art treasures. The collection contains over 800 paintings, sculptures, carvings and tapestries, ranging from primitive Flemish works to contemporary pieces. Highlights include works by Renoir, Fra Angelico, Dürer and Van Eyck.

Palacio de Villahermosa, Paseo del Prado 8
Tel: (91) 369 0151. Fax: (91) 420 2780.
Website: www.museothyssen.org
Transport: Metro Banco de España; or bus 9, 14, 27, 34 or 37.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1900.
Admission: Pta700 for permanent exhibitions (concessions available); Pta500 for temporary exhibitions (concessions available).

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The Reina Sofía National Art Centre Museum, almost entirely dedicated to twentieth-century Spanish art, was designed to give Spain a museum to equal France's Pompidou Centre and London's Tate Gallery. In 1986, Queen Sofía opened the museum (in the former Hospital de San Carlos), British architect Ian Ritchies' glass lifts were installed in 1990, and in 1992, the star attraction - Picasso's Guernica - added the final flourish. The painting depicts the horrific Nazi bombing of the Basque country's traditional capital in April 1937 in support of Franco's cause in the Spanish Civil War. Drawing hundreds of visitors daily, Guernica has not ceased to attract controversy.

Calle Santa Isabel 52
Tel: (91) 467 5062. Fax: (91) 467 3163.
Website: www.museoreinasofia.mcu.es
Transport: Metro Atocha; or bus 9, 14, 27, 34 or 37.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-2100, Sun 1000-1430.
Admission: Pta500 (concessions available).

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)
With the opulence of Versailles in mind, Philip V commissioned Italian architects Giambattista Sacchetti and Francesco Sabatina to build the Royal Palace for him. The present king, Juan Carlos, resides in the more subdued Zarzuela Palace outside Madrid, so Philip's 3000-room extravaganza is now only used for state functions. The rest of the time, the startling white building in granite and Colmenar stone is open for tours. Highlights include the Hall of Halbardiers and Hall of Columns, with their splendid frescoes, the Throne Room, with its seventeenth-century sculptures, and the lavish private apartments of Charles II. Just off the courtyard is the Royal Armoury and Pharmacy - among Europe's oldest. Visits take about two hours, but for those who do not enter the palace, there are spectacular views over Madrid from the surrounding gardens.

Plaza de Oriente and Calle Bailén
Tel: (91) 547 5350.
Transport: Metro Opera; or bus 3, 25, 39 or 148.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1800 and Sun 0900-1500. (Closed during official ceremonies.)
Admission: Pta900 (concessions available).

Plaza Mayor (Main Square)
This beautifully proportioned, cobbled courtyard was begun by Philip II and completed by Philip III in 1619 - his statue stands proudly in the middle. Today, tourists tend to out-populate the locals but, in the past, heretics were burned at the stake and saints were canonised in the Plaza.

Transport: Metro Sol; or any bus route to Sol.



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