The Prado opens its rarely seen collection to the world
An immersive digital experience to discover works on paper and learn how they are conserved.
Works digitised
Visits to the simulator in the first 90 days
Active user interaction with the experience
The Museo Nacional del Prado holds one of the world’s most important art collections. Its holdings include thousands of drawings, prints and photographs which, because of their fragility and conservation requirements, can rarely be displayed to the public.
The institution combines preservation of this heritage with research and public engagement. The digital project aims to bring works on paper to more people and explain their techniques and artistic context without compromising the originals’ conservation.
Visit the Museo del Prado website ↗
The starting point
The museum holds more than 36,000 works and displays around 6.5% of its collection. More than 15,000 works on paper remained outside the galleries because of their fragility. The project needed to make them accessible from anywhere through an engaging, rigorous experience aligned with conservation and heritage education.
From conservation to participation
Heritage beyond the galleries
The fragility of works on paper limits public display.
A collection open to exploration
Interactive journeys and a simulator allow visitors to discover the works and understand their techniques.
Art, context and learning through practice
Together with the Museo del Prado, Netex developed a digital engagement experience built around two complementary components.
Five thematic features
Modular journeys exploring Goya, photography, drawing, printmaking and paper. They combine artworks, storytelling, visual maps and interactive resources to explain art on paper.
Intaglio printmaking simulator
Developed with PsicoVR, the simulator recreates the stages of a traditional craft, from preparing the plate to printing. Visitors can experiment with materials and create a downloadable print.
Intaglio printmaking simulator
Developed in collaboration with PsicoVR, the intaglio printmaking simulator offers an immersive, hands-on way to understand this art. Users can choose materials, adjust the ink, wipe the plate and calibrate the pressure of the printing press, following each step of the real process. The result is a print faithful to the original technique. Works that can be recreated include iconic prints such as Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters and Goltzius’s The Great Hercules.
Beyond the virtual visit
The project turns heritage that is difficult to display into an open educational experience. It combines conservation of delicate works with explanations of their techniques and direct visitor participation.
The simulator helps visitors understand printmaking through decisions and actions, rather than simply observing the finished result.
What changed with the project
The experience made a broad selection of works on paper accessible and allowed the public to take part in the printmaking process through a simulator. The collaboration received international recognition for its educational and technological approach.
works on paper accessible in digital format
“From the outset, the Netex team understood the essence of the project and offered us innovative solutions to make knowledge about drawings and prints accessible to the public in an engaging and intuitive way. We are creating a model that many museums will be able to adapt to their own collections.”
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