Saturday 19 March 2011
Monasterio of the Descalzas Reales (Barefooted Royals): originally the palace where Empress Maria Theresa of Austria lived, this fortified brick building was converted into a Franciscan convent in the 16th century by Juana de Hapsburg -- daughter of Carlos I/V and sister of Felipe II--who is also buried here. It is still used as a convent today -- 33 nuns live here and thus the visiting hours are very limited. This was my fourth time trying to get a spot on the guided tour, and I got the final ticket for the last tour of the morning.
We entered and circled around a beautiful interior courtyard, filled with orange trees. Then ascended the giant granite main staircase, decorated on all sides by amazing frescos, portraits of Carlos IV and his family, the archangels. The painted "vaulted" ceiling was done by Claudio Coello (17th century Madrid school), who also did a lot of the painting at El Escorial. On the second floor, we circled around the 33 chapels (each nun is responsible for one of the chapels). Each chapel is dedicated to a different religious figure -- St. Joseph's chapel is all decorated in wood carving, Virgin of Gaudalupe stands on a pedestal with lots of intricately painted mirrors. Probabaly the most interesting chapel is the one with a statue of reclining Christ which has an insertable container in which they put the wine "blood" of Christ and parade the statue in the Good Friday procession. the chapels are very well-decorated because the nuns who entered this convent came from very well-to-do families and each had to give a "dowry" upon entering.
We also had a chance to enter the former sleeping quarters of the nuns -- now a display room for a bunch of enormous 17th century tapestries from the Low Countries. The designs were based off of paintings by Rubens, so the figures are large and stylized in Rubens fashion. They are also didactic, depicting the Eucharist and other important ideas of the Franciscans.
Finally, downstairs the convent has a collection of paintings -- mostly court portraits of the Royal Family and paintings of the Royal Family dressed up as important Saints (for example, one little blonde princess had been painted 3 different times in the same dress but with different "accessories" each time: sword and spiky wheel for Santa Catalina, mirror and eyes for Santa Lucia, and flowers for some other saint...). There were some other religious paintings from Belgium, Holland and Germany (during the Protestant Reformation, the Catholics brought their treasures south to Spain and Italy to protect them from the wrath of the Protestants) and also a sizable collection of 16th and 17th century Italian pieces.
Glad I finally had a chance to visit the Barefoot nun convent! Afterwards I headed back home for a final lunch with Consuelo (broccoli with paprika, beets, carrots, fish and an orange) and then packed up my room! Had to make 2 trips to hotel Mora (but luckily I've mastered the bus system now) and walked home through Retiro one final time too, stopping along the way to get tulips for Consuelo. Today is Día de Padre so everyone was out and about in the park and in the streets, taking advantage of the lovely weather. Por fin, met up with Mamma, Daddy and Anna at 8:30 at Hotel Mora. Walked around Caixa Forum, Huertas, Sol, TopShop, stopping in the caves for Jamón Ibérico, pimientos verdes and wine, then stopping again at Mercado San Miguel for caviar tostas and also San Gines for churros con chocolate. So excited to have them here and have the chance to show them around!
Went out to the Cuevas for pimientos, jamón ibérico and vino, then mercado san miguel for caviar tostas and finally san gines for churros con chocolate!
Monasterio of the Descalzas Reales (Barefooted Royals): originally the palace where Empress Maria Theresa of Austria lived, this fortified brick building was converted into a Franciscan convent in the 16th century by Juana de Hapsburg -- daughter of Carlos I/V and sister of Felipe II--who is also buried here. It is still used as a convent today -- 33 nuns live here and thus the visiting hours are very limited. This was my fourth time trying to get a spot on the guided tour, and I got the final ticket for the last tour of the morning.
We entered and circled around a beautiful interior courtyard, filled with orange trees. Then ascended the giant granite main staircase, decorated on all sides by amazing frescos, portraits of Carlos IV and his family, the archangels. The painted "vaulted" ceiling was done by Claudio Coello (17th century Madrid school), who also did a lot of the painting at El Escorial. On the second floor, we circled around the 33 chapels (each nun is responsible for one of the chapels). Each chapel is dedicated to a different religious figure -- St. Joseph's chapel is all decorated in wood carving, Virgin of Gaudalupe stands on a pedestal with lots of intricately painted mirrors. Probabaly the most interesting chapel is the one with a statue of reclining Christ which has an insertable container in which they put the wine "blood" of Christ and parade the statue in the Good Friday procession. the chapels are very well-decorated because the nuns who entered this convent came from very well-to-do families and each had to give a "dowry" upon entering.
We also had a chance to enter the former sleeping quarters of the nuns -- now a display room for a bunch of enormous 17th century tapestries from the Low Countries. The designs were based off of paintings by Rubens, so the figures are large and stylized in Rubens fashion. They are also didactic, depicting the Eucharist and other important ideas of the Franciscans.
Finally, downstairs the convent has a collection of paintings -- mostly court portraits of the Royal Family and paintings of the Royal Family dressed up as important Saints (for example, one little blonde princess had been painted 3 different times in the same dress but with different "accessories" each time: sword and spiky wheel for Santa Catalina, mirror and eyes for Santa Lucia, and flowers for some other saint...). There were some other religious paintings from Belgium, Holland and Germany (during the Protestant Reformation, the Catholics brought their treasures south to Spain and Italy to protect them from the wrath of the Protestants) and also a sizable collection of 16th and 17th century Italian pieces.
Glad I finally had a chance to visit the Barefoot nun convent! Afterwards I headed back home for a final lunch with Consuelo (broccoli with paprika, beets, carrots, fish and an orange) and then packed up my room! Had to make 2 trips to hotel Mora (but luckily I've mastered the bus system now) and walked home through Retiro one final time too, stopping along the way to get tulips for Consuelo. Today is Día de Padre so everyone was out and about in the park and in the streets, taking advantage of the lovely weather. Por fin, met up with Mamma, Daddy and Anna at 8:30 at Hotel Mora. Walked around Caixa Forum, Huertas, Sol, TopShop, stopping in the caves for Jamón Ibérico, pimientos verdes and wine, then stopping again at Mercado San Miguel for caviar tostas and also San Gines for churros con chocolate. So excited to have them here and have the chance to show them around!
Went out to the Cuevas for pimientos, jamón ibérico and vino, then mercado san miguel for caviar tostas and finally san gines for churros con chocolate!
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