Audio Tour of the Prado Museum: Choose Yingmi, Let "Chat with You" About Its Backstory

In the exhibition halls of the Prado Museum in Madrid, one can often encounter amusingly perplexing scenes: Some tourists stand in front of Velázquez's "The Maid of the Palace", staring at the swirling mirrors in the painting, pulling out their phones to look up translations - the Spanish sign simply states "Created in 1656", and the English version merely mentions "Portraiture of court life", without even mentioning where the king and queen's reflections are hidden in the painting, let alone the painter's own thoughts when he included himself in the painting; There are also those who want to squat down to closely examine Rembrandt's "Christ Baptized", just as they approach it, they are interrupted by the loud voice of the tour group - "Look at the next one!" Either follow the group for a cursory look, or wander around "in confusion", this is almost a common problem for all visitors to the Prado.

Until Yingmi's audio tour entered this museum, these two difficulties were resolved. It doesn't require you to chase after the tour guide, nor does it make the masterpieces "silent". No matter how fast or slow you walk, it can slowly explain the light and shadow, composition, and those little stories behind the paintings to you in language you can understand. For foreign visitors to the Prado, choosing Yingmi means truly "understanding" this art palace that houses over eight thousand treasures.

Ⅰ.The "traps" of visiting the Prado with audio tour: Three major headaches

Visiting the audio tour of the Prado Museum actually hides three particularly troublesome obstacles: confusing art terms, awkward language that doesn't fit, and the maze-like layout of the exhibition halls that makes it hard to find your way. These are not minor issues; they directly determine whether you can truly appreciate the beauty of art - and Yingmi's design precisely addresses these "traps".

Let's start with the most terrifying "art terms". In any painting in the Prado, there are a bunch of professional terms: For example, in Goya's "Black Painting", the "romanticist brushstrokes", and in El Greco's paintings, those "symbolic meanings of elongated human bodies". How could ordinary tourists understand these? Traditional guided tours either directly throw the terms at you, such as suddenly mentioning "This painting uses chiaroscuro (the method of light and shadow contrast)", and you stare at the painting for a long time, still not knowing what this "contrast method" is good for; or they just say it very casually, with a sentence like "This is a masterpiece" and no further explanation, as if it were nothing.

Yingmi is different. It breaks down and explains these terms. When explaining the contrast of light and shade in "Christ Baptized", it will chat with you: "Look at the bright face of Christ and the very dark background. This contrast makes you feel that Christ seems surrounded by light. This is the effect the painter deliberately created to focus the viewer's attention on Christ." When explaining the perspective in "The Maid of the Palace", it will guide you: "If you look along the floor tiles in the painting to the distance, don't you feel like you can step into the painting? Velázquez is so skilled at this, deliberately creating this 'extension effect' to make the painting inside and outside seem connected." An English tourist told me: "Previously, when looking at a painting, I knew it was 'beautiful', but now listening to Yingmi, I finally understand why it's beautiful. Even my little brother at home can understand the small details in Goya's paintings and keeps asking 'What does that dark shadow mean?'"

Let's talk about the language adaptation problem. The visitors to the Prado are diverse: there are Spanish locals speaking Castilian, EU tourists from France and Germany, Japanese tourists who want to understand the English explanations, and even art enthusiasts interested in Latin. Traditional guided tours are either in Spanish or English, or they are poorly translated - for instance, "Baroque style's movement" is translated as "Movimiento del estilo barroco". When you stare at the twisting figures in the painting, you still don't understand exactly what "movement" refers to.

Yingmi has done this very meticulously: it offers 8 languages as standard, including Spanish, English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean. It can accommodate almost 90% of foreign tourists visiting the Prado Museum. If you need a less common language like Arabic or Russian, you can customize it in advance. What's more贴心 is that it will "find resonance" with your cultural background. When explaining the composition of "The Spinner" to Chinese tourists， it would say： "Look at the spinner on the left and the nobleman on the right. Aren't they like the 'contrast of main and secondary' often seen in Chinese paintings？ At a glance，you can tell what the painter wants to emphasize." When explaining "The Bacchus of Apollo" to European tourists，it would mention： "This is different from the paintings of Bacchus you've seen at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Ribera's Bacchus is very down-to-earth. Even the mud on the soles of his feet is drawn clearly." After a travel agency near the Prado used this system， tourists said， "Finally， there's no need to guess anymore," and complaints related to language dropped by about 85%.

Then there's the matter of exhibition location. It can really confuse people. The Prado has 4 floors and over 20 exhibition halls， with the collections arranged neatly by "Medieval to 19th Century". But the corridors wind around， and when you're looking for the Goya exhibition， you finally find it，only to discover that the El Greco painting next door has already missed its time. Yingmi's guided tour machine has a very practical function - "Smart Exhibition Location". Wherever you go it marks it on the screen，and it will tell you "Take a detour to see what's nearby". For example，after you finish visiting the "Renaissance Exhibition Hall" on the first floor，it will prompt："Walk 30 meters forward to the second floor，and you can see Goya's 'The Naked Maha'. Don't turn the corner wrong，and don't miss the 3rd hall，which is temporarily closed." It even marks clearly where there is a direct drinking water supply at the entrance of each exhibition hall. A Japanese tourist told me： "Before visiting the Prado for a whole day，I only saw three paintings and got lost. Now following Yingmi's positioning，I found all the masterpieces I wanted to see in one day，without taking a wrong turn."

Ⅱ.Adapting to the Prado environment：Yingmi's details are even more understanding of you than art guides.

The exhibition halls at the Prado are very diverse： some have very dim lighting ，some are crowded and hard to move around ，and there are also temporary exhibition halls that change exhibits frequently. Yingmi didn't do a "one-size-fits-all" approach； instead，it did detailed work for these scenarios，making each place pleasantly surprising.

Let's talk about the operation issues in dark halls. To protect the ancient paintings， many exhibition halls at the Prado only have weak spotlights. In the room with "The Black Painting"，you can't even see the screen of your phone clearly， let alone press the buttons on the guided tour machine. Yingmi's guided tour machine has a "Automatic Light Sensing Adjustment" function - as soon as you enter a dark hall， the screen lights up automatically，and the buttons will emit soft green light， allowing you to press the "Play" and "Pause" buttons without having to hold them close to your eyes； what's more convenient is that it can be controlled by voice. Just say，"Play the explanation of 'The Farmer and His Son'"， and the machine will automatically match the content without the need to touch anything. An Italian tourist told me： "Before adjusting the guided tour machine in the dark hall，I always worried about accidentally touching the adjacent display cases. Now using Yingmi， just say a sentence， and it's much easier."

Let's talk about the "anti-interference" of popular exhibition halls. The 18th hall where "The Lady of the Palace" is displayed is always crowded with people. The voices and footsteps blend together, and the sound of the ordinary guide machine has been drowned out. You have to turn up the volume to the maximum and listen closely. The guide machine of Yingmi uses SOC embedded digital noise reduction technology to filter out the surrounding noise - even if there is a person nearby discussing "What breed is the dog in the painting?", you can still hear the explanation clearly. It also has "Directional Sound Output", so the sound only goes to your ears and won't disturb the people watching the paintings nearby. 

What's more interesting is the content update of the temporary exhibition halls. The Prado general manager organizes special exhibitions, sometimes "The Late Works Exhibition of Rembrandt", sometimes "The Sketch Exhibition of the Spanish Golden Age". The traditional guide machines can't update the content in time, and when you visit the special exhibition, you still hear the old explanations, which don't match the exhibits in front of you. Yingmi has a "Cloud Real-time Update" function - before the special exhibition class, the staff upload the new explanations to the cloud, and your guide machine can synchronize online, without the need to change the machine; if there is no internet, it's no problem, the service desk at the museum entrance can help you update it with a USB drive, and it will be done in a few minutes. A French tourist specifically came to Prado to see the "Vermeer Exhibition", after listening to Yingmi, said: "I didn't expect that the content of the special exhibition could be updated in time, even the pigments used for the 'Pearl Earrings' in Vermeer's painting were explained thoroughly. It was more detailed than the travel guide I prepared earlier."

Ⅲ.Making Foreign Tourists Feel at Ease: Compliance, Yingmi Thinks Thoroughly More Than You Do

For foreign tourists, especially European tourists, "reassurance" is the most important thing: The equipment must comply with EU regulations, and if there is a problem, it can be resolved promptly. The explanation content must not be wrong. Yingmi's preparations in these matters can completely dispel all concerns.

Prado is in Spain and is a member of the EU, so electronic devices must pass CE and RoHS certifications before they can be used. Yingmi's voice guide was certified by these two standards as early as 2010, whether you bring it from your home country and use it yourself, or purchase it in bulk from a travel agency, you don't have to worry about it being detained at customs; and its battery also complies with the "Safe Charging Standard" of the EU, and charging in the museum won't have any safety hazards. Before, a German travel agency tried other brands of guide machines, because they didn't have RoHS certification, and as soon as they brought it into Prado, they were stopped by the local department, and finally had to switch to Yingmi, which didn't delay the tourists' itinerary.

The most crucial point is the accuracy of the explanation content. The famous works of Prado are "art history-level treasures", and a single mistake in the details is not allowed - for example, saying the wrong creation time of "The Naked Maha", or confusing the nationality of El Greco. The explanation content of Yingmi was compiled together with an art history professor from Complutense University of Madrid, and each sentence was double-checked three times: first, the professor wrote the initial draft, then the researchers of Prado Museum reviewed it, and finally the multilingual translator adjusted it according to the cultural background of the tourists. A Spanish local tour guide told me: "When I lead a tour, I often have tourists compare Yingmi's explanation with my content, and I have never found a single mistake, even the metaphors in 'The Black Painting' were explained precisely, more than many temporary hired tour guides."

Ⅳ.Conclusion: Choose Yingmi, Visiting Prado Isn't "Seeing the Paintings", It's "Understanding the Paintings"

For tourists visiting Prado, the voice guide is not a "yes or no" question, but a "can it help you understand the paintings" question. Traditional guided tours are either too technical and full of jargon, making it hard to understand; or too cursory, simply saying "This is a masterpiece"; or too complicated, taking a long time to find the corresponding content. However, Yingmi's audio-guided tour doesn't have those fancy features. It focuses solely on "ensuring that visitors can understand" - it can use words you are familiar with to break down complex art knowledge; it can adjust the screen brightness in dark halls, filter out background noise in crowded areas; it can help you find the exhibition halls, and can promptly update the special exhibition content.

Now at the Prado, more and more tourists are choosing Yingmi: It is placed on the self-rental machines at the museum entrance, it is listed in the recommendations of travel agencies, and even art enthusiasts' travel guides all mention it. A Dutch man who visited the museum told me that before, coming to the Prado was like "reading a book of ancient texts", but this time using Yingmi, he truly "understood" - he could understand the ingenious ideas in the mirror image of "The Lady of the Gallery", could understand the depth in "The Black Painting", and could touch the stories behind each masterpiece. After all, isn't visiting the Prado to do this? It's not just taking a few photos and leaving, but really chatting with these art treasures. And Yingmi has just built this bridge for you.