The Real Monasterio de la Encarnación (Royal Monastery of the Incarnation) is a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

of the order of Recollet

Augustines Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

located in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. The institution mainly interned women from noble families, and was founded by the Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, and thus was well endowed with wealth. Although it belongs to an

enclosed religious order Enclosed religious orders or ''cloistered clergy'' are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the La ...

, the building is open to the public under the administration of the

Patrimonio Nacional Patrimonio Nacional ( en, National Heritage) is a Spanish autonomous agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Presidency, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish State and used by the Monarch and the Spanish Royal Fami ...

History

Real Monasterio de la Encarnacion Cupola

The impulse for the founding of the monastery by Queen Margaret, and sometimes the nuns are called ''las Margaritas'', was to celebrate her husband's expulsion of the

Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open p ...

s, resident Moors. The queen had the prioress of the monastery of discalced nuns of San Agustín in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

, Mother Mariana de San José, accompanied by Francisca de San Ambrosio (sister of the marquesa de Pozas), Catalina de la Encarnación, and Isabel de la Cruz. First lodged in the

Convent of Santa Isabel The Convent of Santa Isabel is a royal monastery in central Madrid, Spain. Belonging to the Augustine order of nuns founded by the wife of Philip III of Spain, Margaret of Austria, it is located near the Atocha Train Station. A school for gir ...

while they awaited the completion, they received donations from the king and queen, including jewels, to finance the monastery. The monastery was built adjacent to the then extant Real Alcázar, and had a passageway to allow the royals direct access. The monastery was inaugurated on 2 July 1616, a few years after the queen had died. The architect and friar Alberto de la Madre de Dios designed and built the monastery between 1611-1616. The facade has a sobriety recalling the style of

Juan de Herrera Juan de Herrera (1530 – 15 January 1597) was a Spanish architect, mathematician and geometrician. One of the most outstanding Spanish architects in the 16th century, Herrera represents the peak of the Renaissance in Spain. His sober style reac ...

. The monastery, now partly a museum, has a wealth of works of art and relics including tubes with the blood of

St. Januarius Januarius ( ; la, Ianuarius; Neapolitan and it, Gennaro), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later ...

and of

St. Pantaleon St. Pantaleon, also Sankt Pantaleon (Central Bavarian: ''Pontigo'') is a municipality in the Braunau am Inn (district), district Braunau am Inn in Upper Austria, Austria. A monument was erected by the riverlet Moosach in memory of the slave worker ...

. During the reign of

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

, his prime minister,

Manuel Godoy Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...

, would attend daily mass here, walking from his nearby Palace of Marqués de Grimaldi. When

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

entered Madrid as king, a hanged cat was found on the monastery gate with the writing: ''Si no lías pronto el hato'',/ ''te verás como este gato.'' ("If you don't leave this town soon/ you'll end up like this cat"). In the 19th century, the composer Lorenzo Román Nielfa was professor of music here. The monastery was open to the public in 1965. The interior of the church was redecorated in the 18th century, including frescoes in the ceiling of the main chapel by

Francisco Bayeu Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

. In the center of the retablor of the main altar is an ''Annunciation'' by

Vincenzo Carducci Vincenzio Carduccio (in Spanish, sometimes ''Vicencio'' or Vicente Carducho; 1576 or 1578–1638) was an Italian painter who spent his career in Spain. Biography He was born in Florence, and was trained as a painter by his brother Ba ...

. On the sides of the altar are the sculptures of ''Augustine of Hippo'' and his mother ''Saint Monica'' by Gregorio Fernández. The tabernacle was completed by

Ventura Rodríguez Ventura Rodríguez Tizón (July 14, 1717 – September 26, 1785) was a Spanish architect and artist. Born at Ciempozuelos, Rodríguez was the son of a bricklayer. In 1727, he collaborated with his father in the work at the Royal Palace of Aranj ...

. The small statues of the Doctors of the Church and the bas-relief of the Savior are by Isidro Carnicero. The monastery features paintings and sculptures by Luca Giordano,

Juan van der Hamen Juan van der Hamen y (Gómez de) León (baptized 8 April 1596 – 28 March 1631) was a Spanish painter, a master of still life paintings, also called bodegón, bodegones. Prolific and versatile, he painted allegories, landscapes, and large-scal ...

, Pedro de Mena,

José de Mora José de Mora (1642–1724) was a Spanish sculptor. José de Mora was born in Baza. He was the oldest son of the sculptor Bernardo de Mora and pupil of Alonso Cano in Granada and of Sebastián de Herrera in Madrid. In 1669, two years after t ...

(''Mater Dolorosa''), and Gregorio Fernández (''Dead Christ'' and ''Christ at the column'').

References

External links

Patrimonio Nacional , Royal Convent of La Encarnación
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Convent of La Encarnacion Augustinian nunneries 1616 establishments in Spain Encarnacion Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Organisations based in Spain with royal patronage Herrerian architecture Convents of the Catholic Church in Europe