Collaboration Agreement between the Museo del Prado and the State Hermitage Museum

Two of the most important cultural institutions in the world, the Museo del Prado in Madrid and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, have signed an agreement to organize joint exhibitions. Their first joint project is entitled The Prado in the Hermitage and will be presented in the Russian city from February 25 to May 29. The second exhibition, entitled Treasures from the Hermitage, will be shown in the Spanish capital from November 8 of 2011 to March 26 of 2012. Reached in the context of the "Dual Year" between Russia and Spain 2011, the agreement has a budget of 1.5 million euros and, according to the director of the Museo del Prado, Miguel Zugaza, it represents "an unprecedented exchange that includes a selection of some of the most important works from two institutions that, while geographically apart, are united by having two of the most important art collections in the world." Also participating in the agreement is the Sociedad Estatal de Acción Cultural (State Society for Cultural Action). The Prado in the Hermitage exhibition will include 66 paintings from the Spanish, Italian, and Flemish Schools that were chosen for their very high aesthetic qualities as well as for their great relevance and historic signification. For its part, the Treasures from the Hermitage exhibition is comprised of 160 artworks from the Russian museum that will showcase the depth and breadth of a collection that expands from the Fifth Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century. The exhibition will also be presented in the recently added spaces of the Museum.