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The Prado Museum will be open at night with free access
The famous Prado Museum will have free access on the first Saturday of every month from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm from March until August.
Remember that the entrance to the Prado Museum is free during the last two hours before closing, this is from Monday to Saturday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sundays and holidays from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
This unique initiative will allow locals and visitors to enjoy a unique experience visiting this extraordinary museum at night.
The Prado Museum is one of the must-see attractions in Madrid due to its wide collection of masterpieces and is the most visited museum in Madrid.
Last year over 2.5 million people enjoyed this remarkable gallery and these types of activities and promotions will help Prado to maintain and reinforce its leading position on the ranking. Visiting the Prado Museum is one of the best things to do in Madrid in winter or when it’s raining.
How to get to the Prado Museum
The best way to get to the Prado Museum depends on where your accommodation is located. This museum is located on the Art Walk in the center of Madrid so it is easily accessible on foot, enjoying the walk through one of the most attractive neighborhoods of the city.
If you are further away or have limited time, the recommended method of transportation is undoubtedly the Metro Madrid, which is safe, fast, punctual, and affordable. The closest metro stops to the Prado Museum are Estación del Arte (Line 1) and Banco de España (Line 2), both less than a 10-minute walk from the museum.
Prado Museum´s popular paintings
Prado Museum is one of my top 3 art favorite galleries in Madrid houses a wide collection of art from the 12th to the early 19th centuries by outstanding painters like Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya.
Probably, the Prado Museum`s list with the top 15 most viewed paintings would include world-famous pieces such as:
- “The Crucifixion” by Juan de Flandes (1509-19)
- “The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest ” by El Greco (ca. 1580)
- “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez (1656)
- “Jacob’s Dream” by José de Ribera (1639)
- “The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid” or “The Executions” by Goya (1814)
- “The Annunciation” by Fra. Angelico (1425-26)
- “The Cardinal” by Raphael (1510-11)
- “Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg” by Tiziano (1548)
- “The Immaculate Conception” by Tiepolo (1767-69)
- “The Descent from the Cross” by Weyden (before 1443)
- “The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych” by H. Bosch (1490-1500)
- “The three Graces” by Rubens (1630-35)
- “Self-portrait” by Durero (1498)
- “Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes” by Rembrandt (1634)
- The sculpture of “Castor and Pollux” (ca. 10 b.C.)
Free access to the Prado Museum at night
On the first Saturday of every month, the Prado Museum will offer a unique night program with a variety of exhibition rooms that attempts to increase even more the number of visitors
It is true that the art gallery has opened its doors at night before, as locals and tourists can enjoy this experience once a year as part of the “Night of the Museums”, a popular cultural event in Madrid in which museums and cultural institutions remain open late into the night.
But, thanks to this initiative of the Museum with the support of Samsung, visitors will be able to enjoy this experience from March until August, extending the museum’s usual opening hours by 3 hours.
How and when to visit El Prado at night
The Prado will open its doors for free on the first Saturday of every month from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm from March until August.
Therefore, the free opening Saturdays at night will be on March 4, April 1, May 6, June 3, July 1, and August 5. If you are visiting Madrid on these dates don´t miss the experience.
To access the museum at night the entrance will be through the entrance door of the Jerónimos. It will be free until full capacity is reached and will have its last access at 23:00.
Prado Museum Program of Activities at night
Along these three hours opening at night visitors will enjoy an unusual experience for free, in which different exhibition spaces will be open to the public, mainly the Central Gallery, where you can see pieces by Rubens, Goya, or Tintoretto, without forgetting, of course, the worldwide-famous Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez.
In addition, there will be other interactive experiences in collaboration with Samsung, which integrate The Prado Guide, S Pen Academy, History of the Prado Museum and its buildings, and Rome in your Pocket.
The program of activities for the inauguration
The evenings at the art gallery promise to be very special.
For the first opening night on March 4, the main space will be the Central Gallery of the Villanueva building, the most emblematic room of the museum, where visitors can compare the perspectives offered by three of the most important portraits in the history of painting: Equestrian Portrait of Charles V, by Titian, Las Meninas by Velázquez, and Charles IV of Spain and His Family by Goya.
This exhibition will feature many interesting artistic encounters, such as Adam and Eve by Titian displayed alongside Rubens’ version of the same subject, and a comparison between two extraordinary paintings of Venus and Adonis: one by Paolo Veronese, from around 1580, and the other by Annibale Carracci, painted just ten years later.