MONASTERIO DE LAS DESCALZAS REALES
This museum is also a working convent – a haven of peace and quiet after the noise and bustle of Puerta del Sol and the Gran Vía nearby. The building started out as a palace, owned by the royal treasurer, Alonso Gutiérrez, but in 1555 he sold it to the sister of Felipe II, Juana of Austria, who founded the convent four years later. The nuns were Franciscans, but became known, because of their aristocratic backgrounds, as the “Barefoot Royals”. The convent is crammed with works of art donated by the nuns’ wealthy relatives. The church (rarely open to the public) contains Juana's tomb (1547–1578).
NEED TO KNOW
Plaza de las Descalzas Reales s/n • 914 54 88 00 • www.patrimonionacional.es • Open 10am–2pm, 4–6:30pm Tue–Sat, 10am–3pm Sun & public hols; closed 1 & 6 Jan, Easter, 1 May, 24, 25 & 31 Dec • Adm €6; free for EU citizens & Ibero-Americans (4–6:30pm) Wed & Thu
- The guided tour lasts for 1 hour, and it is advisable to book well in advance. While the tour is given in Spanish, questions in English are welcomed.
Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales Floorplan
1. Grand Staircase
Nothing prepares visitors for this extraordinary sight. The Grand Staircase belongs to the original palace, but the dazzling frescoes and trompe l’oeil, covering walls, arches and balustrades, were added in the 17th century.
The ornate Grand Staircase
2. Royal Balcony
As you climb the staircase, look right and you’ll see another trompe l’oeil feature. On the “balcony” are Felipe IV and his family – Mariana of Austria, the Infanta Margarita Teresa and Felipe Prospero, the Prince of Asturias. The prince offers an accurate date for the painting by Antonio de Pereda, as he died, aged four, in 1661.
3. Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe
The 68 panels by Sebastián Herrera Barnuevo (1619–71) feature matriarchs of the Old Testament. The Virgin of Guadalupe painting is a 16th-century replacement.
4. Tapestry Room
The magnificent collection of tapestries, on display in the former nuns’ dormitories, were made in Brussels in the 17th century. The 10 panels on view represent the Triumph of the Eucharist.
5. Upper Cloister
The tiny chapels surrounding the cloister were rooms of the original palace. Outstanding among the 16th- and 17th-century works of art is a wooden polychrome Recumbent Christ by Gaspar Becerra.
Chapels in the upper cloister
6. Hall of Kings
This portrait gallery was once used by members of the royal family as a retreat. Works include this charming portrait by Coello.
A portrait in the Hall of Kings
7. Chapter House
The highlight here is a series of 16th-century frescoes depicting the life of St Francis of Assisi. Look out for two devotional works by Pedro de Mena: Ecce Homo and Mater Dolorosa.
8. Antechoir
Visitors enter through an intricately carved Plateresque doorway. Among the paintings lining the walls of the three chapels is a beautiful Virgin and Child from the late 15th century – one of the oldest works of art in the convent.
9. Choir
The choir contains the tombs of Empress María of Austria (sister of Joanna) and the Infanta Margarita. One portrait over the entrance is known as the “abandoned girlfriend” – the sister, María of Portugal, was betrothed to Felipe II but he married Mary Tudor of England instead.
The interior of the Choir
10. Candilón (Funeral Room)
By tradition, when a nun died, her body was placed on the tiled bier, while prayers were said under the light of a large lamp (candil). The royal portraits include two of Felipe II’s children and Juana of Austria, both by the 16th-century artist Alonso Sánchez Coello.
A large lamp in Candilón
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
Today the convent is famous for its artistic treasures, but in the 16th century it was equally renowned for its music. This was largely due to the reputation of Tomás Luis de Victoria, chaplain to the Empress María from 1586 to his death in 1611. Born in Ávila, Victoria studied music in Rome, but his output is infused with a mysticism more typical of the Spanish Counter-Reformation. Victoria’s religious music was among the first to be heard in the New World.
