Real Monasterio de la Encarnación, Madrid

The Royal Monastery of the Incarnation is a convent built for Recollet Augustinian nuns, and its sober façade belongs to the Madrid Baroque. Alberto de la Madre de Dios designed and built the complex between 1611 and 1616, under the patronage of Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III. The queen founded it for women from noble families, and royal wealth helped provide its imposing artistic collection.

Look at the entrance: the façade carries the queen’s coats of arms and a marble relief of the Annunciation by Antonio de Riera. The monastery opened to the public in 1965, and part of the former enclosure now houses a museum. Inside, the church contains an Annunciation by Vincenzo Carducci, sculptures of Augustine of Hippo and Saint Monica by Gregorio Fernández, and a tabernacle completed by Ventura Rodríguez.

Its collection also includes works associated with Luca Giordano, Juan van der Hamen, Pedro de Mena, José de Mora, and Gregorio Fernández. Among the relics is a vessel said, by tradition, to contain the blood of Saint Pantaleon; the same tradition says it liquefies each year on the saint’s feast day. The monastery was inaugurated on 2 July 1616, several years after Queen Margaret’s death.