I would say that fundamentally these have been the increase in its living space, the fact that we’ve been able to add everything that came with the extension designed by Rafael Moneo. Also essential has been the increase in staff as this is not just a space for looking but also one for working, and for that we needed a series of collaborators who have gradually joined the skeleton staff that existed at that time. Also crucial is the Museum’s legal-financial status. It was previously entirely dependent on the corresponding government ministry and was not allowed to raise its own funds or use them for its activities. That situation is now completely different. So I would say that the increase in space, the increase in staff and the new legal-financial status which exists today have been the fundamental milestones that make the Museum what it is today.
Member of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo del Prado, appointed personally in 1993. On December 2, 1996, with the enactment of the royal decree modifying the composition of the Royal Board of Trustees ex officio membership, he became an ex officio member as the chairman of the Friends of the Museo del Prado Foundation, a position that he has held since 1988.
Interview recorded on June 12, 2018