MADRID.- The Museo del Prado recently published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado the announcement of its international competition for the architectural remodelling and updating for museological purposes of the Hall of Realms [Salón de Reinos]. The Hall of Realms is part of the now largely lost Royal Buen Retiro Palace and was until recently the home of the Army Museum. It was officially transferred to the Prado in October 2015.

The aim of the competition is to select a team of architects on the basis of the best proposal to restore the Hall of Realms and create an alternative display space of outstanding quality for the Prado in which to present particular parts of the collection and mount an exhibition programme that focuses on key themes within Spanish history and artistic patrimony.

The addition of this building to the Museo del Prado’s Campus, which was envisaged in the parliamentary agreements on the Museum of 1995, is the principal goal of the celebrations to mark the Museum’s imminent 200th anniversary, which takes place in 2019. It will allow for an increase in display space of between 4,300 and 5,800 square metres.

The competition, open to both Spanish and non-Spanish architects and teams of architects, is structured into two phases. The first is an open one which will select up to eight teams who will be requested to produce a proposal of a preliminary study type. The best of these proposals will be selected as the winner of the second phase.

The competition will offer a first prize of 48,400 Euros together with the commission for the project. In addition, each of the other finalists will be awarded 36,300 Euros. The budget for the fees for the creation of the final project and the site management is 1,756,315 Euros, including VAT.

The results of the competition will be decided by a jury.