Thyssen for Children

Discovering Art at the Thyssen Museum through a treasure hunt

This interactive scavenger hunt at the Thyssen Museum is designed to encourage children to engage with art in a fun and educational way.  Our unique family-focused tour will foster their curiosity and help them decode symbols and social conventions represented in a series of paintings. As a family, you will learn about artistic techniques and themes that were popular from the Middle Ages through modern times.  Together, we will discover monsters, heroes, and heroines as we explore topics such as iconography, patronage, and the Impressionist revolution in Art.

The Thyssen Museum houses one of the best private art collections in the world: a selection of artworks dating from the 14th to the 20th century acquired by the Thyssen family, with the recent addition of the personal collection of Carmen Thyssen, the Spanish widow of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. 

A truly engaging learning experience for children, this private tour of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is led by Dr. Almudena Cros, a fully qualified Art History professor (BA Hons, MA, PhD Warwick University) who has created successful family-friendly tours in Italy and Spain.  Dr. Cros has worked as a primary school teacher assistant at the American Elementary School in Benjamin Franklin Village (Mannheim), where she taught Spanish and History of Art through visual media, and also as a family art workshop docent at CaixaForum Madrid, where her position involved introducing Art History concepts to young children and stimulating their artistic creativity.  Dr. Cros has years of experience teaching art history to children, and as a parent herself, she knows how to keep their attention and focus throughout this treasure hunt.  Her classroom experience includes being an Art History professor at the Madrid campus for two American universities: Saint Louis University and Suffolk University (where she taught for 13 years). 

Although this itinerary is child-focused and is particularly appropriate for older children aged between 7 and 12, adults will find plenty of new perspectives as we decode the hidden messages in paintings from the 14th to the 19th century.  The inquisitive nature of children and adults alike is catered for in this unique tour, where we use our exclusive didactic materials, designed by ourselves, which feature clues to help us explore this fantastic collection.

TOUR LENGTH: 2.5 hours.

Maximum group size: 6 people.

There is no minimum number of participants, so single parents with a child are as welcome as larger family units. We do not work with large groups, and all our tours are private for each family unit, i.e., we do not mix different families that do not know each other. This is to provide the best learning experience and the most comfortable environment for children to feel confident in expressing their thoughts and emotions. Please note that at least one adult must take part in the activity. This is a private family workshop.

PRICES:

Family unit of 1 or 2 adults and up to 4 children: €200

Extra adult in that family unit (another relative, friend of the family): €20 pp

For a group of 2 different family units with a maximum of 6 people, including 2 or more children: €300 flat fee. (€150 per family)

If you have more than four children, please contact us, and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Thyssen tickets: €14 per adult, NOT included in the price. Teachers, professors, or journalists with accreditation, as well as children under 18 and students under 26, qualify for free entrance.

Bring a photograph of your passport to qualify for a free or reduced entrance fee to the museum (over 65 years old, children under 18, or students under 26 with a valid College or University ID).

**PLEASE NOTE: All our family tours are guaranteed private sessions, customized for your family and led by Dr. Cros, a qualified Art Historian with 13-years´experience as a university professor. This is a quality learning workshop delivered in a professional manner that engages everyone in your family.**

As part of AcrossMadrid's commitment to social justice, we contribute part of our profits to charitable organisations.  We support the medical charity Infancia Solidaria. To find out more about the crucial healthcare delivered to children in need by this NGO, please click the link above.

AVAILABLE DAYS AND STARTING TIMES:

Tuesday through Saturday: 10:00 or 14:00.

This tour does not run on Sundays or Mondays.

To ensure availability, advance booking is required. As a one-person company, we can rarely accommodate last-minute bookings, particularly during the high season.