Spain's most prestigious museum, the Prado, this week opens a new 152-million-euro (215-million-dollar) ultra-modern wing, the biggest expansion and renovation project in its history.The new sober and elegant red-brick cube-shaped building, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, will initially show works that it was unable to display in the main section due to lack of space.But the new space created in the old building has also meant the museum can eventually show some 400 additional paintings alongside the 1,000 already on display in the permanent collection that includes works by Velazquez, El Greco and Goya.The modern extension, which opens to the public on Wednesday, lies behind the original neoclassical building, built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and which was initially intended to be a natural science museum."It is the most important extension the Prado has ever had. It adds about half as much space as the museum had before," said the Prado's deputy director, Gabriele Finaldi."It provides us with space for exhibitions, for restoration, prints and drawings, picture storage, but also public services with a large new vestibule, auditorium, bookshop and restaurant."20 years after the Louvre, Madrid's Prado unveils modern wing MADRID (AFP) The new extension to Madrid's Prado museum is open to the press prior to its inauguration next week by the Spanish Royal family, 26 October 2007. Spain's most prestigious museum, the Prado, this week opens a new 152-million-euro (215-million-dollar) ultra-modern wing, the biggest expansion and renovation project in its history.The new sober and elegant red-brick cube-shaped building, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, will initially show works that it was unable to display in the main section due to lack of space.But the new space created in the old building has also meant the museum can eventually show some 400 additional paintings alongside the 1,000 already on display in the permanent collection that includes works by Velazquez, El Greco and Goya.The modern extension, which opens to the public on Wednesday, lies behind the original neoclassical building, built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and which was initially intended to be a natural science museum."It is the most important extension the Prado has ever had. It adds about half as much space as the museum had before," said the Prado's deputy director, Gabriele Finaldi."It provides us with space for exhibitions, for restoration, prints and drawings, picture storage, but also public services with a large new vestibule, auditorium, bookshop and restaurant."The new extension to Madrid's Prado museum, the former cloister of the Jeronimos is open to the press prior to its inauguration next week by the Spanish Royal family, 26 October 2007. The most striking feature of the interior of Moneo's cube is the 17th century cloister of the adjacent San Jeronimo church.The granite walls of the cloister were dismantled, piece by piece, then renovated and reassembled inside the new extension, and now house a collection of the museum's sculptures under the glass roof.The whole project was conceived in 1994 but work did not begin until 2002. Costs also tripled in comparison to initial estimates.The museum currently receives more than two million visitors per year, but hopes that this will now rise to three million.Admission to the museum will be free for five days, from October 31 to November 4, to celebrate the opening.The new addition comes 20 years after another world-famous museum, the Louvre in Paris, unveiled a controversial futuristic glass pyramid entrance, which connects to renovated galleries below.As with the Louvre, the Prado has undergound sections which connect the new wing with the old."We are not trying to be a la mode with our extension," Finaldi insisted.He said many other top museums in Europe and America have had to expand "to accommodate growth in visitors, but also to accommodate new services, particularly temporary exhibition programmes."It's almost an advantage that we arrive late because we can learn. We have been able to see what everyone else has done and learn from their experiences and avoid mistakes as well...""We are not trying to make a great architectural statement. It was not the intention of the trustees nor of the architect that was commissioned", he told reporters.The new wing is just the first part of a wider project for the museum.Next year, the "Cason del buen retiro" opens after renovation in an adjacent 17th century palace and will house a study centre. Later, what is now the army museum will become part of the Prado as well."So we will talk in the future about a Prado campus rather than just a Prado museum," said Finaldi.