The functions of museums in the construction of urban space: The Paseo del Prado in Madrid

Abstract

The museum, as privileged public building in the context of contemporary societies takes on diverse urban functions. Museums serve as landmarks able to transform the visual landscape of cities, museums are symbols of the cultural policies and industries, go beyond their own physical boundaries to generate segments likely to affect the urban morphology, as part of more often controversial urban regeneration projects and plans for the historic and new development areas.

The purpose of this article is first of able to reveal the inter-action between town planning and museum policies, and between these ones and zoning and urban image, basing on the concept of museum´s boundaries, both physically and ideologically. This methodological approach will be applied to the so-called cultural districts. According to their specificity as places of "high cultural level", following the terminology used by Luciana Lazzeretti, referring to those artistic and cultural sites in which a set of economic, non-economic and institutional actors decide to use some of the shared resources in order to develop a common project, serving both to creative and productive factors.

A phenomenon of resilience or permanence of historical functions is often observed in museums urban areas as the Museumsinsel in Berlín or MuseumsQuartier in Vienne, in which old and new actions are stratified, and whose characteristics can be summarized as follows: elevate concentration of cultural facilities and museums and other subsidiary functions; execution of master plans, projects of architectural heritage conservation, presence of new singular architectures, economic growth that in turn boost development of culture and knowledge plans, design of urban furniture, lighting, landscaping, creation of public spaces, revitalization by attracting public and tourists; changes in the cities´ urban imaginary, presence of media or commercial components, updated programming of museums and cultural centers, among others.

From these reflections, the second part of the article focuses on the functional and spatial evolution of cultural urban axis of Paseo del Prado (Prado Boulevard) at Madrid, as a historical museum district, throughout the analysis of the various prestigious projects and urban plans promoted by the public administration and private patrons, which aimed to create a privileged environment linked to arts and culture to enjoy the flâneur, tourist or scholar. This urban vocation is identified in an obvious historical continuity of its cultural functions, combining and balancing conservation and transformation operations. ThePrado Avenueis a paradigmatic urban landscape, symbol of the multiform relationship between museums and cities and gathers some of the most prestigious international institutions in the city:NationalPradoMuseum,ReinaSofiaNationalMuseum,ThyssenFoundationMuseum, among others.

All these remarks make some reflections emerge, one is the evidence of the creation of qualified architectural and urban fragments through the presence of museums. However, beyond cultural functions, and given the current tensions that hinder these tasks in the scenario of urban life, we wonder to what extent these centers and museums play a positive role in generating collective public space and collective memory, beyond their tou-rists´ attraction. The words in the title, “aesthetic” and “public”, concur in some projects, but in other cases not, as it is discussed in the article. Consequently, the data derived from the physical actions in the city itself and in its architecture and urban landscape, and those derived from the expected functional, social and economic transformation due to the installation of one or more museums, should be considered differentially but while interweaved. These aspects are the core of our methodology considered holistically.