西班牙百科全书——普拉多美术馆

An Encyclopedia All About Spain

陈丹青曾说:"美术馆,是一本巨大的活的百科全书。"那么,屹立于西班牙马德里的普拉多美术馆就是一本展现浪漫奔放的西班牙绘画史的百科全书,它与法国的卢浮宫美术馆、英国的大英博物馆、俄罗斯的埃尔米塔什博物馆合称为"世界四大博物馆"之一。

Located in Madrid,the Prado Museum is an encyclopedia that brings forth the history of romantic and passionate Spanish paintings.It is called one of the best museums of the world,enjoying the same renown as the Louvre Museum,the British Museum and the Hermitage Museum. As a fore royal museum,the enormous collection of Prado Museum mostly came from the royal family and monasteries,levied by law.The collection includes more than 30,000 pieces of precious artworks,the best part of which are masterpieces by artists from 15th to 18th century.Quality rather than quantity becomes a feature of the museum,for each of the masterpieces in its collection might become most cherished treasure in other museums,among which are major works of Tiziano Vecellio,Hieronymus Bosch and Rubens,as well as comprehensive works of the"three Spanish Masters":El Greco,Velasquez and Goyay.It is no wonder that a saying goes in Spanish artist circle:"To fully understand Tiziano,Bosch and Rubens,you should come to Spain;to fully evaluate the great Spanish painting tradition,you just stay in Prado."In addition to great amount of paintings,the Prado Museum also include in its collection sculptures,sketches,furniture,coins,emblems,jewelries,and other decorative artworks from carpets to colorful inlaid glass windows. In centuries of time,the Prado Museum has been experiencing extension and rebuilding.In the year of 2005,the Spanish government spent 188 million Euros on a"Gallery of Art",rebuilding and expanding Prado and other two top grade museums in Madrid to enhance the cultural glamour of Spain"s capital in order to bring more tourists to visit the country.