Museo Reina Sofia

Spain'S National Museum Of Twentieth Century Art, Opened 1992 In The Converted Eighteenth Century Hospital General, Holding Picasso'S Guernica Since 1992 · Madrid, Madrid

Guernica is here. That is the first thing to say, because a great many people arrive in Madrid believing it hangs in the Prado and lose half a day finding out otherwise. Picasso painted it in 1937 for the Spanish Republic's pavilion at the Paris fair, in response to the bombing of a Basque town by German and Italian aircraft, and he refused to let it come to Spain while Franco lived; it arrived in 1981 and was displayed behind bulletproof glass with armed guards for years afterwards. It now hangs unglazed in a room of its own, with the preparatory sketches around it, and the sketches are what make the room. The rest of the museum is the national collection of twentieth-century art, strong on Dali and Miro and on the period the picture comes out of, housed in a converted eighteenth-century hospital with glass lift towers bolted to the front. There is a free evening window most days, as at the Prado.

Calle de Santa Isabel 52, Madrid, Madrid, 28012, Spain

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: open most days with a LATE CLOSE, a SHORTER SUNDAY, and - the important one - CLOSED ON TUESDAYS, which differs from the Prado ten minutes away and is the commonest wasted journey on the Paseo del Arte. A FREE EVENING WINDOW runs on most opening days plus Sunday afternoon, with a free ticket still issued. Last entry is shortly before closing and the Guernica room clears first. Confirm the free hours and the Tuesday closure.

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