Art and painting have always been a reference point in Spanish culture. Three of ’s major galleries are located in Paseo del Prado, forming a golden triangle: El Prado, Thyssen Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía. But the city has many other museums, covering every possible taste and trend —many of them very interesting despite being relatively unknown.

Museo del Prado. Paseo del Prado, s/n.Tel.: 91 330 2900. Metro: Atocha and Banco de España. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9 am. to 7 pm. Sunday and public holidays, 9 am. to 2 pm. Closed on Mondays. Free on Saturday from 2.30 pm. and on Sundays from 9 am. to 2 pm. This has the fullest and most important collection in the world of works from the l6th, llth and l8th centuries, the era when the Italian, Flemish and Spanish schools were at their height. The museum displays works by El Bosco, Fra Angelico, Rubens, Tiziano, Boticelli, Murillo, Zurbarán, El Greco and many others. Indispensable for anyone interested in two of the greatest artists of all times — Velázquez (Las Meninas, Vulcan’s Forge) and Goya (The Two Majas, The Family of Carlos IV). The Casón del Buen Retiro, adjacent to the museum, housing Romanes- que paintings, is currently dosed for construction work.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Paseo del Prado, 8. Tel.: 91 369 0151. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am. to 7 pm. Closed Monday. More than 800 works ranging from the Italian primitives of the l3th century to the 2Oth-century avant-guard. The best private art collection in the world, adquired by the Spanish state.

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Santa Isabel , 52. Tel.: 91 467 7062. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10 am. to 9 pm. Sunday. 10 am. to 2.30 pm. Closed Qn Tuesday. This is a great museum dedicated to conternporary art. The star of this gallery is undoubtedly Picasso’s Guernica .

Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Alcalá, 13.Tel.: 91 524 08 64. Metro: Sol and Sevilla. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 pm. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and public holídays. 9 am. to 2.30 pm. Free entrance on Wednesday. Of particular note are the l8th century works by Rubens, Murillo, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Goya, as well as several works by Picasso.

Museo Cerralbo. Ventura Rodríguez, 17. Tel.: 91 547 3646. Metro: Ventura Rodríguez and Plaza de España. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30 am. to 2.30 pm.; Sunday, 10 am. to 2 pm. Closed on Mondays and public holidays. Magnificent collection of sculptures, tapestries and porcelain, as well as pictures by Zurbarán, El Greco and Van Dyck, among others.

Casa Museo de Lope de Vega. Cervantes, 11. Tel.: 91 429 9216. Metro: Antón Martín. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday. 9.30 am. to 2 pm.; Saturday, 10 am. to 2 pm. Closed on Sundays and Mondays. Typical  l6th century building where Lope de Vega lived for the last 25 years of his life.

Museo Sorolla. Gral. Martínez Campos, 37. Tel.: 91 310 1584. Metro: Iglesia and Rubén Darío. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 pm. Sunday from 10 am. to 2 pm. Closed on Mondays. On display in this house, which was the residence of Joaquín Sorolla, among some of the greatest Spanish painters, are works by this Valencian artist together with furniture, paintings and sculptures by other artists of the era.

Museo Romántico. San Mateo, 13. Tel.: 91 448 1045. Metro: Alonso Martínez and Tribunal. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9 am. to 2.45 pm.: Sundays and public holidays, 10 a.m. to 1.45 pm. Closed on Mondays. Countless interesting objects from the l8th and l9th centuries that belonged to Bécquer, Espronceda, Larra and other Spanjsh Romantic poets, toget her with period furniture and porcelain.

Museo de América. Reyes Católicos, 6. Tel.: 91 549 2641. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 pm. Sunday and public holidays, 10 am. to 2.30 pm. Closed on Mondays. Collection of works from the different cultures of the American continent. Of particular note are some pieces of preColombian art, as well as some anthropological sampIes.

National Museum of Decoratlve Arts. Montalbán, 12. Metro: Retiro and Banco de España. - 915 32 68 45. Opening tirnes: on Tuesdays to Fridays from 9.30 a.rn. to 3 p.rn., and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 10 am. to 2 p.m. Closed on Mondays. A collection of objects which over the centuries have served to decorate houses, palaces and rnonurnents in different cultures, from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 2Oth century.

Museo Arqueológico. Serrano, 13. Tel.: 91 577 79 12. Metro: Serrano. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday. 9.30 am. to 8.30 p.rn. Sunday and public holidays, to 9.30 a.m. to 2.30 pm. A historical journey frorn Prehistory to the 2Oth century, discovering the successive, and in sorne cases, exceptional cultural expressions of the different peoples who have inhabited Spanish territory.

Museo de San Isidro. Pl. San Andrés. 2. Tel.: 91 366 74 15. Metro: La Latina . Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, de 9.30 a.rn. to 2.30 p.rn. Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This rnuseurn displays Madrid’s archaeological heritage and the material, social and spiritual testirnonies of the series of cultures that have succeeded each other in present-day Madrid, as well as the art and traditions relating to San Isidro .