During the Christmas time you can visit not only the fantastic permanent collection of Madrid museums, but also a lot of interesting temporary exhibitions.

Architectural Paintings. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and Caja Madrid Foundation (until January 22, 2012). This exhibition brings together more than 140 pictures in which cities and architecture are the subject. It allows the visitor to discover how architectural sceneries changed and developed from Renaissance to the 17th century, and became an independent genre later in 18th century.

The treasures of the Hermitage visit Spain as a temporary exhibition of Prado Museum. From November 8 to March 25, Prado offers the visitor the great opportunity to discover the “treasures of the Hermitage”, a collection of archaeological gold pieces, decorative arts and the museum outstanding collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures.

Come to visit the fabulous exhibition Da Vinci: The Genius at Arte Canal Exhibition Centre, dedicated to the figure of Leonardo Da Vinci as an artist, engineer and scientist. The exhibition is divided into different parts, exploring Leonardo’s personal side, his paintings and his works on science.

You can start the tour by watching Leonardo Da Vinci: The Eyes of a Genius, a 3D film that offers the visitor the chance to see the world through Da Vinci’s eyes. You can also discover a reconstruction of many of the machines invented by this genius or go inside his Studiolo. There is also a space dedicated to Da Vinci’s famous portrait Mona Lisa, focused on the photographical research carried out by Pascal Cotte. These photos revealed several secrets impossible to see for the human eye.

You can find many other interesting exhibitions at this moment in Madrid: Eugéne Delacroix at Caixa Forum and Yves Saint Laurent at Mapfre Foundation. Reina Sofia Museum offers the visitor a new perspective of its collection with the opening of the third phase of the museum reorganization, and also a retrospective of Antoni Muntadas’ work, a pioneer of Media Art in Spain.