Casón del Buen Retiro

The Casón del Buen Retiro is an annex of the Museo del Prado complex in Madrid. Following major restoration work, which was completed in October 2007, it now houses the Museum's study centre (the Escuela del Prado) and library.Picasso's Guernica canvas, and the sketches associated with its creation, were on display at the Casón from 1981, when it was delivered to Spain from New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), to 1992, when it was moved to its current permanent location in a purpose-built gallery at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.HistoryThe Casón del Buen Retiro was originally built as the ballroom, the Salón de Baile, of the Buen Retiro Palace, of which now only two buildings, the Casón and the Salón de Reinos still remain. The Casón is located in front of the Puerta de Felipe IV entrance on the west side of Retiro Park.The artistic importance of Luca Giordano's The Allegory of the Golden Fleece, a ca.1697 fresco on the ceiling of the Casón commissioned by King Charles II of Spain, is one of the possible reasons given for the building having survived when most of the other Bueno Retiro palace complex buildings were demolished in the 19th century. The fresco is considered one of the masterpieces of the Prado's collection.