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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sam Jones in Madrid

Prado cannot be like ‘the Metro at rush hour’, says Madrid museum’s chief

Visitors look at Las Meninas by Velázquez in the Prado.
Visitors look at Las Meninas by Velázquez in the Prado. Photograph: Alex Segre/Alamy

The head of the Prado has said the Madrid art museum does not need “a single visitor more” after it welcomed a record 3.5 million people last year, adding that plans are being drawn up to ensure it does not become a victim of its own success like the Louvre in Paris.

In 2025 the Prado, which is home to such masterpieces as Velázquez’s Las Meninas and Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, was visited by 3,513,402 people, an increase of more than 56,000 from the previous year. Visitor numbers have risen by more than 816,000 over the past decade.

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