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Another thing I remember is all the overhanging eaves of the Museum, the ones giving onto the Jerónimios. There were innumerable swallows’ nests which aren’t there any more as there aren’t any insects in Madrid so the swallows have disappeared. They have a particularly beautiful flight. There were spring evenings when for some reason large numbers of insects would appear and the swallows would go after them. The result was a real racket. You can’t imagine the number of swallows that could gather between the Prado and the Jerónimos church.
The sky was almost filled with chirping swallows. I would ask my grandmother “what’s going on” and she would say “they’re at a wedding”. I’ve no idea why people said things like that. I mean, why would a grandmother tell a story like that.
I also remember things not so much about the Museum but the area around it. It was such a peaceful place where children could play out happily. There were almost no cars on the Paseo del Prado so it was totally safe for children. You could wander around completely safely. It was absolutely peaceful. In the afternoon the mothers would come with their children and sit on the benches around the Museum. We children played today. That was the atmosphere of the Museo del Prado, really very nice and I remember it very fondly.
Some mornings there were still flocks of sheep. Not like the artificial sheep run today. They really took them out then as that was an old sheep path. The bank of the Retiro was a drovers’ route and they had the right to move the sheep.
Our daily activities were around calle Huertas. We used to go to the market on Antón Martín and to the Doré Cinema. Not when it was that pretentious thing called the Spanish National Film Archive but when it was a real local cinema. A local cinema, where we went in with my grandmother at 3 in the afternoon and we came out at 10 as we saw the two-film session. You had to make good use of your money in those days. We came out practically blind. We went in at 3 and came out at 10. First we saw the official NO-DO news bulletin and we had to stand up when Franco came on and they played the national anthem. It was all a long time ago. I like visiting that area. It’s full of memories. Opposite the Museum were those photographic studios where they pulled a curtain down behind you. There was a cardboard horse which you could be photographed with. Now I remember there were also a few gypsy women selling postcards. But that wasn’t the main thing, it was quite a minor thing with regard to the Museum’s surroundings.
Grandson of José Prieto, Lead Concierge of the Museo Nacional del Prado during the 1940s, when he was a child he lived with his family in one of the homes belonging to the Museum.
Interview recorded on February 20, 2018
