Some records, many confirmations and good news. Or bad, for those who look with terror at the overcrowding in museums. The fact is that the attendance figures in 2025 at the main artistic centers in Spain, released over the last few days, attest to their growing understanding with the public. Especially between April and May, the busiest months. And starting with the most famous and successful, the Prado, which established its best historical record for the third consecutive year: it issued 3,513,402 tickets, some 56,000 more than in 2024, although the most chosen formula was free access, which accounted for 45% of visits, followed by 44.7% who paid the normal price. Almost half of the audience was between 14 and 34 years old and women accounted for 53%.
For its part, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum received 1,601,732 visitors to its main headquarters, almost 65,000 more than the previous year, which represents an increase of 4.2% compared to 2024, although it remains below its highest marks, over 1.7 million. “We must remember that the Retiro Park headquarters have remained closed all year due to rehabilitation works,” underlines a statement issued by the museum, which also includes an assessment from its director, Manuel Segade: “The systematic growth of audiences at the Reina headquarters at a time when the Retiro palaces continue to be closed for work on their buildings is a joy. We are sure that this momentum will continue with the opening of the new collections floor in February and the reopening of the Velázquez Palace for the summer.”
The Thyssen-Bornemisza does not celebrate a record, but almost: the 1,003,455 registered accesses represent the second highest figure in its history, behind 2023 (there were about 9,000 more), but with a growth of 5.4% compared to last year. 51.2% were of national origin: specifically, 38.5% from Madrid and 12.7% from the rest of Spain. The most viewed exhibition was Picasso and Klee in the Heinz Berggruen collectionwith 116,183 visitors, followed by Proust and the arts and the installation Edgar Degas. In the hat shop.
National Heritage also boasts unprecedented figures: it received 7,450,828 visitors in 2025, more than ever, with an increase of 3.8% compared to 2024. The breakdown on its official website clarifies that 4.3 million entries were due to the Royal Palaces, Royal Monasteries and Royal Patronages, among which the Royal Palace of Madrid stands out, with 1,769,167 visits, 11.6% more than in 2024. The Royal Collections Gallery, inaugurated two and a half years ago, continued to grow and added 741,589 visitors, 12.5% more than in 2024.
The Guggenheim in Bilbao, on the other hand, remained close to its highest figures: the 1,305,003 accesses in 2025 place it in fourth place in the history of the museum, although a few thousand miles away from the best year, 2023. There was an increase, of course, compared to 2024, and the center also recorded the months of May, June and July with the highest attendance since its opening in October 1997.
The Picasso Málaga Museum also recorded data among the highest in its history, although without records: there were 792,366 visitors in 2025, a figure that the center itself has interpreted as a confirmation of the “maturity of the cultural project” it is carrying out, in a statement.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia (MuBAV) also grew compared to 2024, with 250,949 visits, that is, 5% more, or the Caixaforum of Barcelona, with 585,575 entries and an increase of 15.09% (the also Barcelona CosmoCaixa rose 0.8%), while the Picasso Museum in the Catalan capital remained slightly below the previous year, being still thus the most visited of the municipal artistic centers, with 1,021,500 attendees. His two most visited exhibitions were Growing up between two artists y From Montmartre to Montparnasse.
The National Archaeological Museum was another center that reached the highest numbers in its history: 864,201 visitors, 37.76% more than the previous year and well above the previous record, in 2014. Among the network of state museums managed by the Ministry of Culture, the National Museum and Research Center of Altamira, in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria), achieved the highest data in a decade: 293,700 visitors, just one 0.3% more than in 2024. “It is followed by the Sephardic Museum in Toledo, the third most visited in the Network of State Museums, with 256,468 visitors; and the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida which, with 224,890 visitors, increases its 2024 figure by a further 21.97%, coinciding with the closures of the museum due to the expansion and remodeling works of its emblematic headquarters, designed by Rafael Moneo, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026″, highlights a statement released by Culture.