The Prado Museum and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment propose an itinerary through the Guadarrama National Park through the works of great painters

The Prado Museum and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment have organised an educational itinerary that will show the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park through the works of great painters present in the art gallery such as Velázquez, Goya, Beruete and Muñoz Degraín.
 
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Pablo Saavedra, learned about the itinerary this afternoon accompanied by the Minister of the Environment, Local Administration and Territorial Planning of the Community of Madrid, Jaime González Taboada, and by the Minister of Development and Environment of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, and by the director of the Museum, Miguel Zugaza.
 
DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER
The delegation has appreciated nine works on display, including two portraits of Prince Baltasar Carlos de Velázquez, Goya’s Spring and Landscape of El Pardo de Beruete, although the exhibition will feature another nine works from the collection that are not currently on display.
 
This itinerary, free for visitors to the Museum, can be done every Tuesday in November in the morning and afternoon (11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.). And, on the occasion of the celebration of the XV Science Week, it can also be enjoyed on November 4, 5, 11 and 12 (at 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. prior registration in this case by sending an email to inscripción.semanadelaciencia@museodelprado.es).
 
THE SIERRA DE GUADARRAMA PARK, THE 15TH IN THE NETWORK
The Secretary of State for the Environment thanked the implementation of this initiative and highlighted “the uniqueness” of the National Parks. Almost a century after the first law, Spain has 15 natural areas declared with this maximum environmental protection, the last one being the Sierra de Guadarrama, which is honoured in this itinerary.
 
“This National Park enriches our Network with natural systems of great value, which are continuously distributed on both sides of the regional border between Madrid and Castilla y León”, said Saavedra, also highlighting “the extraordinary cultural heritage that it integrates, the result of the activity of man throughout history, which has shaped this generous and wild natural environment”.
 
Saavedra recalled that the Sierra de Guadarrama was “a reference for the Spanish court and was a source of inspiration for painters, as we have seen today, but also for writers, philosophers and poets from the Golden Age to the Generations of 98 and 27. All this without forgetting its scientific and educational aspects and its close link with the world of sport”.
 
PROTECTION OF NATURAL SPACES AND NEW PARKS LAW
The Secretary of State also highlighted “the important effort” of the Government in this legislature to protect natural spaces and biodiversity with “a profound reform of the applicable regulations, such as the approval of the National Parks Law, as well as increasing protected areas”.
 
This new National Parks Law, approved last year, reinforces the philosophy that gave rise to these protected areas through four main axes: the clear and forceful will for conservation; the special involvement of the State in this task in support and coordination of the activity of the Autonomous Communities managing these spaces; the openness to knowledge and enjoyment by citizens; and their territorial integration, reinforcing the link between these unique spaces and their inhabitants.
 
GUADARRAMA NATIONAL PARK, AS YOUNG AS IT IS LOVED
Saavedra stressed that the Guadarrama National Park, a young park, “is very loved and one of the most visited in Spain, along with Mount Teide, and has advanced very quickly, with the joint effort of the autonomous communities of Madrid and Castilla y León”. Thus, in just two years it has constituted all its management and coordination bodies, “and it is a clear example of the model that we propose for our Network of National Parks”, he added.
 
The Secretary of State also recalled other milestones in this legislature in terms of the protection of natural spaces, together with the Guadarrama declaration, such as the extensions of other emblematic National Parks such as Picos de Europa and Tablas de Daimiel, “and a great advance in the protection of our marine environment, in which the declaration of protected areas, as with the National Parks, it is also the responsibility of the State.”
 
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT OF THE PRADO MUSEUM
Saavedra concluded by acknowledging the Prado Museum’s commitment to the environment: “It has been the first institution in its area to register its Carbon Footprint and has a rigorous energy efficiency plan, which collaborates directly in the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere”.
 
List of works Discovering the Sierra de Guadarrama in the Prado
Philip IV, on horseback. Velázquez
Prince Baltasar Carlos, on horseback. Velázquez
Prince Baltasar Carlos, hunter. Velázquez
The boy from Vallecas. Velázquez
Charles III, hunter. Goya
Spring. Goya
View of Guadarrama from the Plantío de los Infantes. Beruete
Landscape of El Pardo. Beruete
Landscape of El Pardo as the fog dissipates. Muñoz Degraín
 
Complementary works
The jester Don Diego de Acedo, El Primo. Velázquez
View of the Monastery of El Escorial. Michel Ange Houasse
The blind man’s hen. Goya
The Blind Hen (sketch). Goya
Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama. Carlos de Haes
Cross of the gallows in El Escorial. Martín Rico
Two pine trees in the Guadarrama. Martín Rico
A landscape of the Guadarrama. Martín Rico  
Piornos del Guadarrama. Jaime Morera