Voces del Prado

Miguel Zugaza and the changes to the extension

Pedro Álvarez Moreno, Head of the Area of Works and Maintenance, 1994-2009

The different directors’ eras are easy to remember as they coincided with the general elections. I arrived with José María Luzón. In 1996 there were elections, which Aznar won, and Fernando Checa arrived. After that they haven’t coincided with elections as Miguel Zugaza managed to survive all of them. He’s been a very intelligent, well prepared men who’s been capable of inspiring and convincing people. He’s been very important for the Museum in every sense.
Miguel Zugaza also played a major role in the extension, not because it was done during his time but because he changed the project. Well, he didn’t exactly change the project... Firstly, he changed the museological plan, which already resulted in a lot of things; for example, the fact that the Casón del Buen Retiro is what it is now. Initially Fernando Checa had thought of sending the 19th-century paintings back to the Casón. It it was Miguel Zugaza who rethought this, saying that the Museo del Prado had to display everything in a single place and that the Casón needed more space to devote to other things, such as a Study Centre. This also slightly complicated everything that was being done at the Casón as a lot of things had to be rethought. Moneo’s initial project envisaged 15,000 or 16,000 square metres which has ended up as 21,000. And those extra metres came about because Miguel Zugaza was involved.
Miguel Zugaza improved internal communication in the Museum between north and south, between the machine room and the Murillo entrance. Zugaza asked for it and Moneo had to invent it as it hadn’t been planned for. Another thing he added was communication between the office building and the Villanueva building. I also got involved a bit here as it was me who said: “It’s ridiculous that we can’t link the office building to the Museum, we’ve got calle Ruiz de Alarcón in between.” I was the one who most insisted on solving this and again it got done. Miguel Zugaza was very important for the extension and for the Casón, obviously.