[1/5] A visitor walks past the sculpture "Felipe II" by artist Pompeo Leon at the Gallery of Royal Collections in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2023. REUTERS/Juan MedinaMADRID, June 29 (Reuters) - Madrid opened a long-awaited multi-million-dollar gallery on Thursday, bringing hundreds of masterpieces from the royal collection, including works by Caravaggio, Velazquez and Goya, under one roof. A third of the exhibits - themselves just a fraction of the total collection - will continue to move between those institutions, officials said. "The museum is born with the vocation of being a cultural and tourist key point in Madrid, Spain and Europe," Ana de la Cueva, head of National Heritage, the state-owned organization that manages the royal collection, told reporters. She said officials hoped the museum would persuade tourists to extend their stay in the city by at least one day, boosting revenues.

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Persons: Felipe, Pompeo Leon, Juan Medina MADRID, Caravaggio, Velazquez, Goya, Prado, Reina, Thyssen, Spanish Habsburg, Bernini, Ana de la Cueva, Emma Pinedo, David Latona, Andrew Heavens Organizations: Royal Collections, REUTERS, Reina Sofia, Fontana, National Heritage, Thomson Locations: Madrid, Spain, Almudena, Spanish, Bourbon, Rome's Piazza Navona, Europe