Convent of Las Descalzas Reales

This convent was founded in 1599 by Juana de Austria, Princess of Castile and Portugal. It comes from 1557, when Doña Juana, who that year had just arrived from Portugal after his husband´ s death, Prince Juan, decided to found a convent of the Catholic Religious order of the Franciscanas descalzas. It only has one nave that is covered by a barrel vault. It was finished in 1564, and it was only inaugurated by Felipe II.

It is also interesting the main staircase´ s decoration, by Agostino Miteli and Micaelangelo Colonna.

After the fire of 1862, the exceptional Major Altarpiece by Gaspar Becerra got lost.

It has an exceptional collection of paintings of artists such as Tiziano, Brueghel or Sánchez Coello. Moreover, we should not forget its tapestry and Religious figures collection. The beautiful Renaissance staircase is decorated with murals from the XVII Century. We should highlight the tapestry that was made in Brussels, over Rubens´ cartoons, representing the Apotheosis of the Eucharist.