The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) is the official name of Spain’s national museum of 20th century art (informally shortened to the Museo Reina Sofía, Queen Sofia Museum, El Reina Sofia, or simply The Sofia).The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain. It is located in Madrid, near the Atocha train and metro stations, at the southern end of the so-called Golden Triangle of Art (located along the Paseo del Prado and also comprising the Museo del Prado and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Madrid travel guides.
GPS travel destinations: 40° 24′ 32″ N, 3° 41′ 40″ W
The Jardines del Buen Retiro or Parque del Buen Retiro (literally “Gardens” or “Park of the Pleasant Retreat”) is a large and popular 1.4 km² (350 acre) park at the edge of Madrid’s city center, very near the Puerta de Alcalá and not far from the Museo del Prado. Once a retreat (retiro) in the monastery of San Geronimo outside Madrid, where the king could withdraw during Lent, bringing the court with him, Buen Retiro became the center of Habsburg court life. The park is now entirely surrounded by the present-day city. Nice tourist location for walking. A lot of history and cultural spots you can find in Madrid.
Travel GPS direction: 40° 25′ 2.28″ N, 3° 40′ 58.01″ W
Mar 122007
The Museo del Prado is a famous museum and art gallery located in Madrid. It features one of the world’s finest collections of European art, from the 14th century through the early 19th century. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture, the Museum also have important collections of more than 5,000 drawings, 2,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and almost 2,000 decorative objects and works of art. Sculpture is represented by more than 700 works and by a smaller number of sculptural fragments. The superb picture gallery consisting of 8,600 paintings is the factor which lends the Museum its world class status. The Prado undisputedly has the world’s finest collections of works by Spain’s Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya, as well as of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (a personal favorite of King Philip II of Spain). The museum also has excellent collections of El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Bartolomé Estéban Murillo. Fine examples of the works of Melozzo da Forlì, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Veronese, Hans Baldung, Fra Angelico, van der Weyden and many other notable artists are on display in the Museum.
Coordinates: 40°24′50″N, 3°41′33″W
