El Escorial The Felipe II Train, a trip to the Golden Age aboard a historic railway
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She is greeted by a coarse-looking giant with colossal strength, intimidating pupils, and a terrifying appearance.
For something this oil on canvas, attributed to the Italian
Vicente Carducho
and with nearly 400 years behind him, is called
Colossal Head.
Well, located on the main staircase of
the Prado Museum,
it is the first of the
23 works
of the center that form a new route through unique places in the
Community of Madrid
, whether through landscapes, characters (aristocratic and from the street ) or even mythological monsters like the one just mentioned.
Not in vain, it decorated the
Staircase of the Jesters
of the
Palacio del Buen Retiro
before scrutinizing visitors to the Prado as soon as they set foot in the most important museum in the country.
And one of the 10 best valued in the world, according to publications such as
Forbes
.
A couple sitting in front of the El Retiro pond.C.
LUCAS ABREU
The route jumps from Carducho to
Velázquez, Goya, Beruete or Fortuny.
From El Retiro to Aranjuez, El Pardo, El Escorial or Boadilla del Monte.
From colossal heads to palaces, churches, monasteries,
gardens or princes on horseback
.
That yes, although the itinerary takes place
within the rooms
of the center, the idea is to go beyond them and approach the places that the pieces represent or for which they were painted through a route through the community.
"This pictorial itinerary that links
history, art and landscape is
a surprising journey from the universal to what is closest to our beloved Madrid," says the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Marta Rivera de la Cruz.
'View of the Escorial monastery', painting by Michel-Ange Houasse.
The museum's curators spent months selecting 23 works from the more than
9,000 related to Madrid
present in the art gallery.
"9,399 to be exact, although only 1,290 are exposed," says Arantza Urbina, head of the project and deputy general director of Development and Sustainability of the General Directorate of Tourism.
And he adds: "
Madrid
is positioning itself as
the largest cultural destination in the world
and within this framework we began to develop the idea of creating a cultural and tourist route like this one".
Another artistic look
The circuit does not follow a
chronological order
.
Not even spatial, since it covers four floors (from -1 to 2).
The idea is that everyone, with the route in hand or on their mobile -it is available both physically in the museum and on the Community website- discover the
different pieces
to their liking.
And then move to the related scenarios.
"They function as a gateway to
rediscover the region
under a new artistic gaze," Urbina clarifies.
To do this, the guide includes a map of those currently open to visitors (15 in total).
Courtyard of the Palace of AranjuezSHUTTERSTOCK
Among these, those included in the Landscape of Light stand out -the last of the five UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Madrid-
such
as the Retiro Park, the Botanical Garden,
the Jerónimos Church
or the museum itself.
This quota includes paintings such as
Felipe IV, on horseback, The Botanical Garden from the Paseo del Prado
or María Isabel de Braganza as founder of the Prado Museum.
Room dedicated to Goya in the Prado Museum.M.
OF THE MEADOW
The Royal Palace, for its part, appears both in the form of sculpture (
Dionysus,
bought by
Velázquez in Italy
) and in Goya
's works on the
War of Independence .
There are also references to its predecessor, the Real Alcázar, on which it was built.
To begin with, the first destination of
Las Meninas
was the
office of the king
of this fortress.
Likewise, Velázquez painted
Jester with Books
for her , in which the peak of Maliciosa can be seen in the background.
Interior of the Madrid Botanical Garden.
We jump to another palace, that of
El Pardo,
since based on
Las floreras
or
La Primavera
by Goya, the corresponding tapestry would be made for the dining room of the
Princes of Asturias
.
The same process was followed with
The Washerwomen,
The Blind Hen
and
The San Isidro Prairie,
conceived for the bedrooms.
The route continues with
The Immaculate Conception of Aranjuez
, by
Murillo
, which occupied the
chapel of San Antonio
del Real Sitio, or
View of the Escorial monastery,
by Michel-Ange Houasse.
'The Botanical Garden from the Prado Museum', by Luis Paret y Alcázar.
There are also lesser-known destinations such as the
Palace of Boadilla del Monte
, where Goya
's famous painting of
The Countess of Chinchón ended up.
"It's one of the ones I like the most because it speaks indirectly of the place. In addition, it conveys
a sweetness and beauty
that are unusual in his portraits," concludes Urbina.
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