Voces del Prado

The Museum of yesterday and today

María Merino Cabrera, Clerical Support, 1977-2004

When I arrived here, the Museum was much less than what it is today. The ancient museum and the other parts in the Jerónimos or the Casón [del Buen Retiro]… The Casón was used as a museum for sculptures, but they were artistic reproductions, not the original sculptures.
It changed later when the Guernica was taken there. It was also used as a museum for 19th century paintings until it became what it is now: offices and a library.
The Museum I knew was almost a family matter, they all knew each other, many of them were relatives. There was a vacant post because of death or retirement and they would propose a relative of someone already in to take the job. "Mr. So and so is proposed to occupy the post of Mr. So and so, which is vacant owing to retirement or death," and that's how people came in . That's why everyone, even people who I consider my friends, would ask me, “Who brought you in?" Entering because I had passed an exam was something unheard of.