Museo del Prado

A Neoclassical building put up by Juan de Villanueva in Madrid between 1785 and 1808 for Charles III, planned originally as the Royal Cabinet of Natural History. It opened as a public gallery in 1819, and its collection started from the private holdings of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, which is why its Velázquez (court painter to Philip IV for 37 years), Titian (collected by seven Spanish kings in a row) and Goya are as good as they are. During the Civil War its paintings were evacuated by convoy as far as Geneva to keep them clear of the bombing.