At the turn of this century the Prado, Spain's premier art museum, slumbered in neglect.
本世纪之交，西班牙首屈一指的美术馆普拉多一度退出公众视野，处于沉寂当中。
Limited opening hours and an almost complete lack of information about its paintings seemed calculated to put off visitors.
开放时间有限而且几乎完全缺乏画展信息，这似乎是在有意敷衍游客。
Deliverance came with a law in 2003 granting it autonomy from the civil service.
随着2003年法律出台保障其自治权，普拉多获得自由。
Before that the museum's staff ran the place in their own interest and the director had little power, says Eduardo Serra, a former defence minister who as chair of the Prado's trustees pushed the law through.
在此之前博物馆的管理人员根据自身利益进行运作，馆长几乎没有权力，前任国防部长Eduardo Serra如是说。他同时是普拉多推进出台法律的受托公司的董事长。
To implement it he hired Miguel Zugaza, a shrewd manager, as director.
为了实施变革，他雇佣精明能干的Miguel Zugaza担任馆长。
Miguel Falomir, who was appointed as Mr Zugaza's successor on March 21st, inherits a Prado that is flourishing.
Miguel Falomir于3月21日被任命为Zugaza先生的继任者，接手蓬勃发展的普拉多。
It attracts 3m visitors a year.
普拉多每年吸引三百万游客。
It has weathered state funding cuts: about 70% of its budget of 45 million euros ($49m) now comes from tickets, merchandising, fees from foreign exhibitions and sponsorship.
这经受住了国家资金削减的考验：其总预算为4500万欧元，其中70%来自门票，商品销售，国外展览费用和赞助费的收益。
Above all, the Prado has shed its provincialism.
最重要的是，普拉多脱离了狭隘主义。
“It was very introverted,” says Mr Falomir, an expert on Titian.
提香研究专家Falomir 先生说，“之前它相当封闭”。
It used to mount exhibitions only of Spanish painting.
普拉多过去只举办西班牙绘画展览。
When it branched out, with shows on Rubens and Titian, colleagues across Europe and America were sceptical.
当它开拓领域，举办有关鲁本斯和提香的展览时，欧洲和美国的同事表示怀疑。
“Not any more,” he adds.
“再没有其他的了”，他补充说。
Last summer's blockbuster exhibition of three-quarters of the surviving work of Hieronymus Bosch was one that only the Prado, with its large Bosch collection, could have organised.
去年夏天普拉多展出了希罗宁姆斯·博希四分之三的现存作品，轰动一时，也只有普拉多拥有如此之多博希的藏品，能够组织得起这样规模的展览。
Mr Falomir still faces challenges.
Falomir先生仍然面临挑战。馆内禁止拍照和自拍。
All museums must cope with mass tourism.
博物馆必须能应对大量游客