museos

MADRID

Madrid is home to everyone. Madrid is the one place on earth where you feel at home when you step off the plane. We say Madrid is yours because everyone wants a home they can call their own, and that’s Madrid: home to everyone, everyone’s home.

If you want to feel like you were born in Madrid, just come and live here. One thing Madrid does very well is make you feel like that. It’s a space for living, a place for shelter, a place where the roads take you somewhere, where you find shade in summer and light in winter.

Madrid is a cosmopolitan city nowadays. Many different cultures and many different ways of seeing the world. One thing hasn’t changed. In a city where tolerance is a way of life, you feel at home because nobody asks you “where are you from?” It’s a city with a buzz, the buzz of life. The rhythm of the city means life, the streets never seem to sleep and whatever you’re doing it’s never too late to do it.

Three of the most important art galleries in the world (El Prado, the Thyssen-Bournemisza and the Reina Sofia) are all in ten minutes walking distance of each other. The Paseo del Arte or Art Walk is a stroll around the best in the history of art.

The Museo del Prado has one of the most complete art collections in the world. Here you can see the works of great painters such as Velázquez, Goya and El Greco. In the Reina Sofia the main attraction is Picasso’s Guernica, and after that works by Miró, Kandinsky, Dalí, Tápies and Antonio López. At the Thyssen gallery, masterpieces from the European Gothic and Renaissance periods mix with works by Hopper, Bacon and Freud.

Everyone seems to want to be cooler than everyone else, to carry the flag of the new. Madrid has always striven to be at the forefront of new creative tendencies. Its fame for openness and tolerance has made it a place where musicians, designers, fashion designers, photographers and film directors can find ideas and inspiration. The result of this creative hothouse is that Madrid is now a place to be reckoned with on the international art circuit.

In Madrid you’re in the right place to find answers to questions. It’s difficult not to in a city where so many artists get together, where there’s so much creative life. Where the sight of some of the most famous works of art in the world forms part of your daily routine, where paintings that were once hidden are now proudly displayed.

We have a laid back attitude to timetables. Eating is a pleasure for us and we like to do it in our own time and after lunch conversations are something we love. If you’re new here, try our lifestyle, you might like it. Start off with breakfast at around eight in the morning. Don’t forget a coffee break about 11.00. An aperitif at one. Then lunch at three. A light snack at six in the evening and finally a light dinner. That’s the idea, but if you want to chop it and change it a bit, that’s fine. But whatever you do, don’t miss out on a siesta: that really is good for the soul. Some things we do might surprise you. When you go for dinner with friends, don’t look too surprised when everyone helps themselves to what’s on your plate. The payback is you can help yourself to what’s on theirs.

Tapas: the Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines tapas as “a small portion of food that is served to accompany a drink”. It’s a Spanish custom that’s become an international phenomenon. But tapas are more than just a snack. They are a way of enjoying life, of making friends. A tapas session is all about talking, mostly arguing heatedly about what delicious tapa you’re going to have next!

The basic idea of a good tapeo is similar to a pub crawl, you go from bar to restaurant to bar, trying and sampling what each place has to offer. Madrid is full of the best in tapeo. Don’t miss out on areas like La Latina and Conde Duque. There you can find everything from the most traditional type of tasca to modern designer tapas bars.

You must try some of this. The traditional cuisine of the city is a mixture of influences and styles. It retains traces of the Moorish occupation of the city, especially in the delicious almond based desserts. It’s based on simple but imaginatively prepared stews and soups, with dishes like the cocido, a stew served in three courses. A vital ingredient for a good cocido is the water, which must be from Madrid, regarded as the best in Spain. No city can get much more inland than Madrid, but it’s famous for excellent fish dishes like besugo a la madrilèna (roast bream), or the famous squid sandwiches that you can eat in bars near the Plaza Mayor.

Restaurants like La Bola, Botín, Lhardy, Lucio, Landó, are real eating experiences where you know you’re in the right place for food that never goes out of style. Remember that in almost any restaurant with a fixed daily menu you’re guaranteed delicious traditional cooking at almost bargain prices.

Madrid is regarded as having a night life that is like no other. Clubbing is a way of life here. For that matter, any other thing you can do at night has somewhere to do it here. Night life in Madrid is a mixture of all the latest tendencies: the most minimalist chill out zones, the wildest clubs, the most Gothic discos, the roughest bars, the craziest after hours, the most nostalgic dance halls. There are as many Madrids as there are lifestyles, as there are tastes. And if you can’t find what you like, try inventing it here, and nobody will mind, because everyone wants a home they can call their own, and that’s Madrid: home to everyone, everyone’s home.

Museo Taurino

Alcalá, 237
Metro: Ventas (L2 y L5)

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Museo del Prado

The present site of the Prado gallery is part of an area once called the Salón del Prado. During the reign of Carlos III, also known as “the builder king, plans were laid to make the Salón part of a complete city landscape, complete with monumental buildings that might compete with other European capitals of the times. The Madrid he had known, before leaving for Naples to be crowned king there, was little changed when he returned for his coronation as King of Spain. It was still a small dusty town in La Mancha that had suddenly become capital of the Spanish Empire on the orders of Felipe II.

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Museo Cerralbo

Holds collections of paintings, sculpture, drawings and sketches, ceramics, jewellery, silver work, arms, lamps, watches, textiles, fans, archaeological finds, stamps, medals and fondos bibliograficos. Ventura Rodríguez, 17 Metro: Plaza de España (L3) and Ventura Rodríguez (L10)Tel: 91 547 36 46.

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Museo Sorolla

Founded on express wishes of Sorolla’s widow, Clotilde Garcia del Castillo. In 1925 she left in her will a donation of all her property to the Spanish State to found a museum in her husband’s memory. After her death the donation was accepted on 28 March 1931, and on 11 June the following year, the Museum was opened. Joaquin Sorolla Garcia (Clotilde’s only son) became the first curator, again in response to express wishes stated in his mother’s will. In 1941, Joaquin bequeathed more funds for the Museum in his will. The donation was accepted in 1951, three years after Joaquin’s death. These funds are now in the hands of the Fundación Museo Sorolla in accordance with Spanish law. The Museum has belonged to the State since 1973 and is run by the Ministry of Culture. The Museum has collections of sculptures, ceramics, furniture and popular jewellery, as well as the “Sorollas”.
General Martínez Campos, 37
Metro: Gregorio Marañon, Iglesia and Rubén Darío
Tel: 91 310 15 84

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Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

A new gallery almost opposite the Prado and very close to the Reina Sofia Gallery, refurbished by the architect Rafael Moneo, and a much-needed part of what today is called the art triangle of Madrid. In 1993 the Spanish Government paid 350 million dollars for the Thyssen Bournemisza collection, one of the most important private art collections in the world. This meant that few other cities in the world could now compete with what Madrid had to offer in the world of fine art. The gallery serves a special function in the triangle: it complements the more traditional collection in the Prado and the modern works in the Reina Sofia. This function is reflected in the wide variety of styles and tendencies on its walls such as the Primitive Italian and Dutch painters, German Renaissance, Dutch painting of the 17th c., Impressionism, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometrical Abstraction and Pop Art. Another noteworthy feature of the Gallery is the collection of 19th c. North American painting, almost unknown in Europe and which in the Gallery occupies two rooms.

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Museo de Arte Reina Sofia

On the 10 September 1992, their majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia opened the Permanent Collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which until then had only opened for temporary exhibitions. Since then, it has established itself as a permanent art gallery, and is making gains in the care, exhibition and growth of its collection.

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Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

This museum was founded during the reign of Felipe V, whose royal sculptor, Juan Domingo Olivieri, and the First Secretary of State and the Royal Office, the Marques de Villarías, generously laid the foundations for what was to be the future temple to the Arts. On 13 July 1744 the King approved the establishment of an Academy similar to other institutions in other countries. The artistic, governmental and economic norms were laid down, and after naming the people responsible for the different posts in the academy, the first meeting was held on 18 July 1744 in Olivieri’s home. On 1 September, the first general public meeting was held, during which the King declared that he had conceded the first floor of the Royal Bakery to the Corporation as a place where they could hold their meetings and teach. This was later verified in July the following year. One year later, the first grants were awarded to students to study in Rome.

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