Top Museums

Guggenheim museum Bilbao

and

Museo Nacional Del Prado

Gehry, a Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based architect, has designed some of the most iconic structures in the United States. His firm, Frank O. Gehry & Associates (now Gehry Partners), was selected by Thomas Krens, the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, to design the museum in 1991, beating out proposals by Austrian firm Coop Himmelblau and Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.

  • IT'S BEEN CALLED THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE SINCE 1980.

In 2005, Vanity Fair surveyed 52 experts to determine the definitive construction project of the latter half of the 20th century. The unanimous results, with 28 members of the survey (including 11 Pritzker Prize-winners and the deans of eight architectural schools) casting their votes in his favor, pointed to Gehry’s work in Bilbao as the most influential. He also received votes for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Millennium Park bandshell in Chicago, and his private residence in Santa Monica, California. Other vote-getters included Renzo Piano for the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, and Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals (Thermal Baths) Hotel and Spa in Graubünden, Switzerland.

  • THE BUILDING SITE WAS ONCE A THRIVING PORT AREA

Bilbao, a city of 350,000 in the Basque Country of northern Spain, is located on the Nervión River and lies 7 miles inland from the Bay of Biscay, which has made it a hub of shipping activity for centuries. But the economic tumult of the mid-20th century left much of the area derelict until the region underwent a period of urban transformation that culminated with the opening of the Bilbao in 1997.

  • THE BASQUE GOVERNMENT FUNDED ITS CONSTRUCTION

In 1991, following designs for a new airport and subway system, the Guggenheim’s Krens met with Basque government officials and agreed to build a new Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. The two sides signed a 75-year agreement, in which the government planned to pay $100 million for the museum’s construction, $50 million for an acquisitions fund, a one-time $20 million fee for the Guggenheim Foundation, and $12 million to subsidize the museum’s annual budget. Krens and the Guggenheim were responsible for managing the museum, bringing in collections and pieces of art, and creating shows.

  • THE MUSEUM WAS INAUGURATED BY A KING.

Juan Carlos I sat as Spain’s monarch from 1975 until his abdication in 2014. On October 17, 1997, Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia attended a gala for the museum’s opening, where the King intoned, “The Guggenheim Museum is inaugurated!

  • Part of the Golden Triangle of Art

Museo Nacional Del Prado is one of Madrid’s three museums that form the Golden Triangle of Art. The other two Madrid museums are Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and Museo Reina Sofia

  • Focused More on Spanish Arts

When Museo Nacional Del Prado made its first catalogue public in the year 1819, it only contained 311 Spanish paintings. Although there were many more paintings, the museum concentrated more on Spanish work

  • Home to Several Arts Works from Famous Artists

Museo Nacional Del Prado contains creative masterpieces from famous artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco de Goya, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Raphael. Other popular artists include Francisco de Zurbaran, Velazquez, El Greco, Hieronymus Bosch, Paolo Veronese, Murillo, Claude Lorrain, Antoine Watteau, Jose de Ribera, among others.

  • The New Wing of the Museum

Rafael Moneo designed a new wing, which was completed in the year 2007. The new wing added over 235,000 sq. ft. to the Museo Nacional Del Prado

  • The Museum Focused On Older Creative Artworks

Guernica – Pablo Picasso’s painting, created in 1937, was added to the museum’s collection in the year 1981. It was later moved to Museo Reina Sofia in 1992 because Museo Nacional Del Prado desired to concentrate on work made before and during the 1800s

  • Only 1/7th Artworks Are Displayed

The collection of Museo Nacional del Prado includes about 7,600 paintings, 8,200 drawings, 1000 sculptures, and 4,800 prints, in addition to a huge number of other historic documents and masterpieces. Due to the large numbers of collections in the Museo Nacional Del Prado, only 1/7th of the art collection is exhibited at any period. In 2012, around 1300 works were displayed in the main museum building, while about 3100 works were temporarily loaned to several official institutions and museums

  • A Renowned Site on the Planet

Museo Nacional Del Prado is one of the world’s most visited sites and also thought to be one of the most significant art museums across the globe. In 2012, the museum welcomed 2.8 million visitors. Museo Nacional Del Prado is one of Spain’s biggest museums.