Real Iglesia de San Antonio de los Alemanes, Madrid

Real Iglesia de San Antonio de los Alemanes is a church with an unusually shaped interior: its floor plan is oval, and paintings cover the dome and the walls. The plain brick façade gives little warning of that enclosed, richly painted space. The building was made between 1624 and 1633 as part of a hospital serving Portuguese residents in Madrid, and its architect was Pedro Sánchez.

The church began under the name San Antonio de los Portugueses, honouring Saint Anthony, who was born in Lisbon. After Portugal became independent in 1668, the institution came under the care of the Catholic German guard attached to Queen Mariana de Neuburg, which produced the name you hear today. In 1702, Philip V placed the church and hospital under the care of the Hermandad del Refugio, a charitable brotherhood that continues to provide food for people in need.

Its famous night patrol distributed bread and eggs to people sleeping outdoors. Inside, Francisco Rizi and Juan Carreño de Miranda painted the dome, while Luca Giordano covered the walls. The result is a small church whose inexpensive brick-and-plaster construction conceals an extraordinary continuous field of fresco painting.