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The Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen will open for free during Madrid’s major cultural week
Madrid is preparing for several days when culture will completely take over the city centre. International Museum Day will turn the capital into a vast trail of exhibitions, concerts, workshops and free activities spread across dozens of iconic venues, from the Prado and Reina Sofía to museums less familiar to the general public.
Throughout the week, many of the leading museums will open their doors free of charge and extend their opening hours to attract both Madrid residents and visitors. El Prado will offer free admission on 18 May, while the Reina Sofía will stage a major music marathon with artists such as Soleá Morente, Carlangas and Zahara, blending contemporary art and music in the heart of the city's cultural district.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, the Museo Cerralbo and the Museo del Traje are also preparing special activities, guided tours and workshops. The programme seeks to turn museums into much livelier and less solemn spaces, connected with family plans, nightlife and different urban experiences.
Madrid will also use the celebration to open spaces that are normally less accessible. The Galería de las Colecciones Reales will organise special visits, the Casa Museo Lope de Vega will bring back dramatised routes through the Literary Quarter, and the Museo Naval will bring maritime life and children's stories into its rooms during the weekend.
The programme will also extend beyond the most tourist-oriented circuit. Venues such as the Museo de América, the Planetarium, the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales and CA2M de Móstoles will add activities designed for diverse audiences, from palaeontology workshops to shows inspired by the aesthetics of Bridgerton.
The cultural atmosphere will be especially noticeable in neighbourhoods such as Sol, Palacio, Paseo del Prado, Lavapiés and Chamberí, where thousands of people will move between museums, squares and streets, linking activities throughout the day. Madrid is thus once again reinforcing an image increasingly associated with large, open and accessible cultural weeks.
International Museum Day has spent years transforming the relationship between the city and its cultural institutions. What was once perceived as spaces reserved for occasional visits or tourism becomes, during these days, an active part of urban life: concerts inside museums, night-time queues, cultural routes and residents rediscovering historic spaces amid the everyday rhythm of Madrid.