Expansion of the Prado Museum in Madrid (photo: Matias Costa for The New York Times)

Over the last decade, with Spain in the feverish throes of what some have called the Bilbao Syndrome, it seemed as if any town with 50 or more residents somehow had 50 (or more) million euros to spend on a shiny new contemporary art museum, whether or not it had any contemporary art with which to fill it.

This investment in high-impact starchitecture, like the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y León in León, has had a ripple effect on museums around the globe, with some of the buildings themselves qualifying as works of art worthy of inclusion in a recent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

But no matter how many centers of artistic gravity are emerging in the Spanish firmament, the biggest star is about to get even bigger.

On Oct. 30, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain will cut the ribbon on the glorious new Jerónimos Wing of the Museo del Prado (Paseo del Prado; 34-91-330-2800; www.museoprado.es; 6 euros). Designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, the 150-million-euro expansion finally brings this nearly 200-year-old institution into the modern era.

Read full article (New York Times, September 23, 2007)

Related posts:  Prado museum to have daily free entry hours  //  Megalomania in China: personal museums for artists  //  Gehry does Serpentine, Hadid wins Michigan State  //

This entry was posted on zondag, september 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Architecture, Europe, Museum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.