Europe Euphoria

Spain’s oldest and grandest art museum popularly known as Prado Museum is a place that offers a large and varied feast to art lovers. Good news is that it is undergoing extension giving a 21st century update to this 18th century museum. The 167,023-square-foot wing designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo is the latest in a series of modifications that began in the 1830s. The extension is definitely modern but it well harmonizes with the surrounding architecture of the Academia Espanola, the adjoining botanical gardens, the church of the Jeronimos and the original Neo-Classical museum designed by Juan de Villanueva. The new wing will give the museum much space to re-hang more of its vast collection that has been stored since long and has not been exposed to the art lovers visiting the museum. Only 2000 of the almost 9000 art works in the collection were previously on view and this extension will allow art lovers to witness the hidden gems i.e. the masterpieces by El Greco, Z�rbaran, Goya, Bosch, and Caravaggio. It’s a $211-million extension that will be inaugurated on Oct. 30. With the opening up of the newly expanded Prado, the institution will have doubled its exhibition space to a total of 16,000 square meters. To show off its modern space, the museum is opening a temporary exhibit in the new wing-The Rediscovery of a Collection: The 19th Century at the Prado that will feature art works from the day of inauguration up till April 24.