MADRID, SPAIN.- Carmen Calvo, the Spanish Culture Minister, announced to the Royal Board of the Museo Nacional del Prado, the conclusion of the expansion works for the museum. This is the greatest expansion the museum has had in the almost 200 years of the institution and the first built on spaces independent to the historic site.

The work was designed and directed by architect Rafael Moneo and financed by the Ministry of Culture. The museum now has more than double the space (15,715 square meters more of space) and provides the museum with installations, spaces and services it needed. The new Prado has 1,386 square meters of space for temporary exhibitions in four halls, a cloister, auditorium for 438 persons, a visitor center, a new book store and restaurant. It took five years and three months to finish the expansion with a total cost of €152,356,775.87.