Ancient palace, in the heart ofthe center of Madrid, where Charles I and Isabel of Portugal resided and where, in 1535, their daughter Doña Juana, founder of the convent, was born. Many ladies belonging to the nobility stayed in this monastery and took their trousseau with them. For this reason, it preserves a large collection of paintings, tapestries and religious imagery.
Founded by the sister of Philip II and princess of Portugal in 1559, for this she bought the houses of Charles V's treasurer, where the Emperor himself had stayed and where, therefore, Doña Juana herself had been born. The sepulchral chapel of the founder occupies, according to tradition, the same space where she was born and is a small jewel of the Escorial style.
The building is a characteristic Plateresque palace, with Genoa marble columns in the patios and halls decorated with tiles and plasterwork in the Moorish tradition, but with Renaissance forms. p>
The artistic richness and perfect conservation of the complex make Descalzas a unique space to evoke the Spanish Habsburgs of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Princesses and princesses used to pass by here. seasons in the “ “royal room”, where he lived and died Empress Maria and where she was educated Isabel Clara Eurgenia, daughter of Felipe II, who later gave Rubens' famous series of tapestries on the Eucharist was brought to the convent, destined to adorn the church and the cloister of chaplains during Holy Week and in particular during the procession of the Holy Burial.
Tuesday to Saturday: 10:00 hrs – 2:00 p.m. / 4:00 p.m. -6:30 p.m.
Sundays and holidays: 10:00 hrs – 3:00 p.m. Free time:
Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6:30 p.m.