Renowned as one of the most important museums in the world, the Prado houses sculptures, drawings, coins, and other works of art?but it is its incomparable collection of paintings for which it is famed worldwide. Included in its holdings of more than 8,600 paintings are works by members of the Italian, Flemish, Spanish, French, Dutch, and German schools. Albrecht Dürer, Anton van Dyck, Correggio, El Greco, Goya, Hieronymous Bosch, José Ribera, Lucas Cranach, Nicolas Poussin, Pieter Brueghel, Rafael, Rembrandt, Rogier van der Veyden, Rubens, Sandro Botticelli, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Tiziano, Velázquez,and nearly every other master painter from the 12th to the 20th century is represented in the Prado?s magnificient collection. The history of the museum began during the reign of Charles III, but it did not really take form as an institution until the reign of Fernando VII, under whom the Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture was founded in 1819. With the disappearance of the Spanish monarchy, the museum became national property and was renamed the Prado Museum. Only a tenth of the Prado?s immense collection of works are normally on show. Architect Rafael Moneo (Pritzker Prize in 1996) has designed an extension to join the existing neo-classical building with two nearby historical buildings, the cloister of the San Jerónimo church and a 17th-century palace, by buried passageways. Its opening towards the end of 2007 was undoubtedly a landmark in the history of this renowned picture gallery.
