Royal Monastery of the Incarnation

The Royal Monastery of the Incarnation was founded in 1611 by Queen Margaret, wife of Philip III, as a convent for cloistered Augustinian Recollect nuns. It houses the famous relic of Saint Pantaleon. Its architecture is the finest example of the Habsburg style following the construction of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. In 1994, it was declared a Site of Cultural Interest. National Heritage is responsible for its management. The building is the work of architects Juan Gómez de Mora and Fray Alberto de la Madre de Dios, who constructed a building that has become a model of what is known as Madrid Baroque. The convent preserves important collections of paintings and sculptures from the 17th and 18th centuries, with works by Luca Giordano, Juan Van der Hammen, Vicente Carducho, Gregorio Fernández, and Pedro de Mena. Of particular note is the reliquary, which houses a collection of 700 pieces made of bronze, coral, ivory, and fine woods from Italy, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. The interior of the church was completely decorated by Ventura Rodríguez between 1755 and 1775 in an exquisite Neoclassical style inspired by Roman architecture. The Confiscation of Mendizábal in 1836 significantly affected the convent, as the nuns were expelled in 1842 and its gradual demolition began. The architect Narciso Pascual y Colomer oversaw the clearing work in 1844; the reconstruction project for the convent, especially the wing facing San Quintín Street, dates from that same year and began in 1847, the year the nuns returned to the building after five years of expulsion.