Voces del Prado

A Museum of paintings and sculptures

Matías Díaz Padrón, Technical Advisor and Head of the Department of Conservation of Flemish Painting and the Northern Schools up to 1700, 1970-2005

We often forget that the Prado Museum is a museum of paintings and sculptures, but there has been a shift, sculptures have sort of been brushed aside. I remember when in the central hall, when you came through the central door, the old door, the hall was filled with classic Greek and Roman sculptures. There was a continuum in these halls. As a student and as a teacher I could explain the evolution of classic Greek and Roman sculptures, even from farther east, though we didn't have much, but I could refer to what we had at the Prado Museum. That's where the Lady of Elche was, I don't understand why they took that sculpture to the National Archaeological Museum.