Museo Reina Sofía

Museo Reina Sofía is a museum in Madrid, Spain. Picasso's painting Guernica is there.
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS, also called the Museo Reina Sofía, Queen Sofia Museum, El Reina Sofia, or simply The Sofia) is Spain's national museum of 20th century art. 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).

The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's two greatest 20th century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.  The Reina Sofia Museum also hosts a free-access library specializing in art, with a collection of over 100,000 books, over 3,500 sound recordings and almost 1,000 videos.

The central building of the museum was once an 18th-century hospital. Extensive modern renovations and additions to the old building were made starting in 1980. In 1988, portions of the new museum were opened to the public, mostly in temporary configurations; that same year it was decreed by the Ministry of Culture as a national museum. Its architectural identity was radically changed in 1989 by Ian Ritchie (architect) with the addition of three glass circulation towers.  A €92 million designed by French architect Jean Nouvel opened October 2005.

The building has been functioning as the Centro del Arte (Art Center) since 1986 but was established as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 1988. But analyzing the building's history up until these events, it appears that the building was subjected to being tested out as different representations of what it is today.

Photo Gallery, Reina Sofía Museum

Category:Museums in Spain