Madrid opens up its autumn focused on cultural tourism
5 October, 2022Madrid is one of the most interesting cultural destinations on the planet thanks to its rich historical heritage and its avant-garde character. Madrid has some of the most impressive museums and emblematic places to visit in all of Europe, among which the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía Art Centre, the Thyssen Bornemisza, the Royal Palace and the Royal Theatre stand out, as well as more than 100 museums throughout the region.
International tourists who come to Madrid and its region do so largely to discover its culture, one of the greatest attractions of this destination. That is the third motivation throughout the year and the main motivation in the last quarter. Because autumn is the best time to enjoy this incredible offer, combining it with gastronomy and shopping.
Due to its importance and its unbeatable characteristics, in July 2021, the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences with 125 hectares and over 15,000 trees, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The sum of these two assets is also known as the Paisaje de la Luz, the Landscape of Light. Three of the most important art galleries in the world are concentrated in this unique space, in just under two kilometres: the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, which can be visited together by buying a voucher.
Madrid has a very extensive list of museums including, as well as those mentioned, the National Archaeological Museum, which preserves one of the most important collections of antiquities in the world -including the enigmatic Lady of Elche, the Museum of Romanticism, which houses an interesting collection of paintings, furniture and decorative arts from the 19th century and the National Museum of Anthropology, which offers visitors a global vision of the culture of different peoples of the world.
In turn, the National Museum of Decorative Arts, is a place for learning for craftsmen, manufacturers, artists and connoisseurs of industrial arts, following a similar concept to that which encouraged the implementation of other museums of the same type, like the South Kensington Museum (today the Victoria and Albert Museum) in London; the Costume Museum, in which a journey through history is made through the clothing of each era.
The Cerralbo Museum, located in what was the house-palace of the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, is also very attractive for British visitors. A visit to this museum takes visitors back to the way of life of an aristocratic family at the end of the 19th century. There is also the interesting Museum of America, whose funds are made up of ancient collections of American archaeology and ethnography and the Sorolla Museum, dedicated to the painter Joaquín Sorolla.
Culture in Greater Madrid
In Greater Madrid you can find other interesting museums, such as the Cervantes Birthplace Museum, in the historic centre of Alcalá de Henares; the Regional Archaeological Museum, the Centro de Interpretación Nuevo Baztán [Nuevo Baztán Interpretation Centre], Casa Museo Lope de Vega or the Castle of Manzanares El Real.
The regions contains many more unknown yet attractive public places: the Museo de Falúas Reales [Museum of Royal Barges] and the Museo Taurino [Bull-fighting Museum] in Aranjuez; the Museo del Cine [Cinema Museum], in Villarejo de Salvanés or Ulpiano Checa, in Colmenar de Oreja. All these represent evocative cultural challenges for their visitors.
Commemoration of Picasso
8 April 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, whose expressive, free and multiform language continues to influence contemporary art and reflection. Madrid hosts many of the activities of the programme which the governments of France and Spain have prepared to commemorate the date.
With the support of renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States, the Picasso 1973-2023 Celebration revolves around some 50 exhibitions and events which, as a whole, address a historiographical analysis of the work of this universal painter, which is also represented in the Picasso Museum in Buitrago del Lozoya.
The possibilities offered by Madrid for a cultural tourist are rounded off with visits to art galleries, specialised bookstores and architectural areas scattered throughout the community. And, to finish, you can enjoy numerous flamenco shows, an art that since November 2010 has been included as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity declared by UNESCO. Madrid is the antidote against autumnal boredom.