Madrid & Central Spain - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 306

Need to Know
ADMISSION €8 FREE ENTRY 6pm to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm to 8pm
Sunday SELF-GUIDED TOURS See the museum's website for one- to three-
hour itineraries See the author's review on Click here
Museo del Prado Don't Miss List
BY LEONARDO HERNÁNDEZ, MEMBER OF FRIENDS OF THE PRADO AND REGULAR PRADO VISITOR
1 EDIFICIO JERÓNIMOS
The museum's extension, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, is worth
visiting on its own. Highlights include the Sala de las Musas (Room of the
Muses), the giant doors by Cristina Iglesias, the upper garden and El Claustro de
los Jerónimos (Jerónimos' Cloister).
2 BY DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ
Velázquez's masterpiece shows the moment in 1625 in which Ambrosio Spinola,
a Spanish general, accepts the surrender of the Dutch town of Breda after a long
siege. The Spanish novelist Arturo Pérez-Reverte mixed fantasy and reality in
his novel The Sun over Breda, claiming that his character Captain Alatriste ap-
peared in the painting but was later mysteriously erased by Velázquez.
3 BY FRANCISCO DE GOYA
This painting is a small fragment of Spanish history transferred to canvas. It
shows the royal family in 1800 with Fernando (later Fernando VII) dressed in
blue on the left. His fiancée has not yet been chosen, which may be why Goya
depicts her with no facial definition.
4 BY ROGER VAN DER WEYDEN
This 1435 painting is unusual, both for its size and for the recurring crossbow
shapes in the painting's upper corners, which are echoed in the bodies of Mary