Record visitor figures in 2025 reopen the debate: is the Prado the world’s greatest pinacoteca?

Published on 12 january 2026

Exterior view of the Museo del Prado, Madrid — one of the world’s leading pinacotecas.

The publication of museum attendance figures for 2025 has reignited an old but ever-relevant debate within the international art world: should cultural success be measured by sheer visitor numbers, or by the nature, depth and coherence of a collection?

According to recently released data, the Museo del Prado closed 2025 with over 3.6 million visitors, the highest figure in its history. For the Madrid institution, this milestone has been received not as a race to compete with the largest museums on the planet, but as confirmation of something more enduring: the Prado’s unique position as one of the most important pinacotecas in the world.

By contrast, the Musée du Louvre continues to dominate global rankings with attendance figures close to nine million visitors per year, reaffirming its status as the most visited museum on Earth. Yet these numbers, impressive as they are, raise increasingly complex questions about what contemporary museum success truly represents.

Beyond numbers: two very different models

At first glance, the comparison between the Louvre and the Prado might seem straightforward: one attracts more than twice the number of visitors. However, the reality is far more nuanced.

The Louvre is a universal museum in the broadest sense. Its collections span millennia and civilisations: Mesopotamian reliefs, Egyptian antiquities, Greek sculpture, Islamic art, decorative arts, and, of course, Western painting. For many visitors, the experience is condensed into a short, often hurried pilgrimage to a handful of iconic works — most notably Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa — before moving on to the next cultural landmark.

The Prado, by contrast, has never sought to be encyclopaedic. Its strength lies precisely in its focus. It is, by definition and by vocation, a pinacoteca — a museum devoted primarily to painting. The term, derived from the Greek pinax(painting) and thēkē (container), refers to an institution where painting is not one discipline among many, but the central axis around which everything revolves.

What does it mean to be a pinacoteca?

This distinction matters. A pinacoteca is not merely a building filled with paintings; it is a space designed for sustained visual engagement, historical continuity and stylistic dialogue. In this sense, the Prado is exceptional.

Its holdings of Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens, Bosch and Titian are not isolated masterpieces scattered among unrelated objects. They form coherent, deeply interrelated bodies of work that allow visitors to follow artistic development, influence and rupture across generations. Few museums in the world offer such density of major paintings within a single tradition, let alone across several European schools.

This is why many art historians argue that the Prado should not be judged by the same criteria as a universal museum. It does not aim to be everything. It aims to be the best at what it is.

A quieter success — and a deliberate one

The record figures of 2025 have been welcomed by the Prado’s leadership, but without triumphalism. In fact, voices from within the institution have repeatedly emphasised that uncontrolled growth in visitor numbers is not necessarily desirable.

In recent years, concerns have been raised — particularly in France — about the Louvre’s transformation into something closer to a cultural theme park. Overcrowded galleries, brief encounters with artworks, and visitor experiences shaped more by social media than by contemplation have become common criticisms.

The Prado has taken a different path. Capacity controls, free evening access for local audiences, and a programming strategy focused on scholarship and conservation rather than spectacle have shaped a museum experience that remains relatively calm, even during peak periods.

The result is a paradox: fewer visitors than the Louvre, but arguably more time per visitor, more attention per painting, and a deeper level of engagement.

International relevance without spectacle

Another striking aspect of the Prado’s 2025 figures is the composition of its audience. More than half of its visitors came from outside Spain, confirming the museum’s strong international appeal. Unlike some institutions that rely heavily on blockbuster exhibitions to drive tourism, the Prado’s core attraction remains its permanent collection.

This raises an important point: the Prado does not need novelty to remain relevant. Its relevance is structural. It lies in the fact that no serious study of European painting can bypass Madrid.

For scholars, artists and collectors alike, the Prado is not an optional stop. It is a reference point.

Rethinking what “the best” means

So, is the Louvre a greater museum than the Prado? In terms of scale and visibility, undoubtedly. But is it a greater pinacoteca? That is a different question — and one increasingly answered in Madrid’s favour.

The debate ultimately reflects a broader cultural tension of our time: mass access versus meaningful experience, visibility versus depth, entertainment versus contemplation. Museums today are under pressure to perform not only as guardians of heritage, but as engines of tourism and economic growth.

The Prado’s 2025 record suggests that it is possible to grow without surrendering to spectacle — and that excellence, when sustained over centuries, does not require reinvention every season.

As the art world digests the latest figures, one conclusion seems unavoidable: while the Louvre may be the most visited museum in the world, the Prado remains one of its most serious — and perhaps its most profound.

And in the realm of painting, seriousness still matters.