Catholic churches Madrid has a considerable number of Catholic churches, some of which are among the most important Spanish religious artworks. The oldest church that survives today is
San Nicolás de los Servitas, whose oldest item is the bell tower (12th century), in Mudéjar style. The next oldest church is
San Pedro el Real, with its high brick tower.
St. Jerome Church is a gothic church next to
El Prado Museum. The
Catholic Monarchs ordered its construction in the beginning of the 16th century, as part of a vanished monastery. The monastery's cloister is preserved. It has recently been renovated by
Rafael Moneo, with the goal to house the neoclassical collection of El Prado Museum, and also sculptures by
Leone Leoni and
Pompeo Leoni. The Bishop Chapel is a gothic chapel built in the 16th century by order of the Bishop of Plasencia, Gutierre de Vargas. It was originally built to house the remains of
Saint Isidore Laborer (Madrid's patron saint), but it was used as the Vargas family mausoleum. Inside are the altarpiece and the tombs of the Vargas family, which were the work of Francisco Giralte, a disciple of
Alonso Berruguete. They are considered masterpieces of Spanish Renaissance sculpture. File:Real Monasterio de la Encarnación (Madrid) 01.jpg|Royal Convent of La Encarnación (façade) File:Colegiata de San Isidro (Madrid) 14.jpg|
Colegiata de San Isidro File:Basílica de San Francisco el Grande (Madrid) 03.jpg|
Basílica de San Francisco el Grande File:Basílica of San Miguel.jpg|
Basílica pontificia de San Miguel File:Iglesia Parroquial de Santa Bárbara (Madrid) 08.jpg|
St. Barbara's Church.
St. Isidore Church was built between 1620 and 1664 by order of Empress
Maria of Austria, daughter of
Charles V of Germany and I of Spain, to become part of a school run by the Jesuits, which still exists today. Its dome is the first example of a dome drawing on a wooden frame covered with plaster, which, given its lightness, makes it easy to support the walls. It was the cathedral of Madrid between 1885 and 1993, which is the time it took to build the Almudena. The artworks inside were mostly burned during the
Spanish Civil War, but it retained the tomb that holds the incorrupt body of
Saint Isidore Laborer and the urn containing the ashes of his wife,
Maria Torribia. The
Royal Convent of La Encarnación is an Augustinian Recollect convent. The institution, which belonged to ladies of the nobility, was founded by Queen
Margaret of Austria, wife of
Philip III of Spain, in the early 17th century. Due to the frescoes and sculptures it houses, it is one of the most prominent temples in the city. The building's architect was Fray Alberto de la Madre de Dios, who built it between 1611 and 1616. The façade responds to an inspiring
Herrerian style, with great austerity, and it was imitated by other Spanish churches. The church's interior is a sumptuous work by the great Baroque architect
Ventura Rodriguez. In the church are preserved shrines containing the blood of
St. Januarius and
St. Pantaleon, the second (according to tradition) liquefies every year on the saint's day on 27 July.
San Antonio de los Alemanes (St. Anthony Church) is a pretty 17th-century church that was originally part of a Portuguese hospital. Subsequently, it was donated to the Germans living in the city. The interior of the church has been restored, and includes several frescoes painted by Luca Giordano, Francisco Carreño, and
Francisco Rizi. The frescoes represent some kings of Spain, Hungary, France, Germany, and Bohemia. They all sit looking at the paintings in the vault, which represent the life of
Saint Anthony of Padua. The
Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida is sometimes named the "Goya's Sistine Chapel". The chapel was built on orders of King
Charles IV of Spain, who also commissioned the frescoes by
Goya. These were completed over a six-month period in 1798. The frescoes portray miracles by Saint Anthony of Padua, including one that occurred in Lisbon but that the painter has relocated to Madrid. Every year on 13 June, the chapel becomes the site of a lively pilgrimage in which young unwed women come to pray to St. Anthony and ask for a partner.
San Francisco el Grande Basilica was built in neoclassical style in the second half of the 18th century by
Francesco Sabatini. It has the fifth largest diameter dome to Christianity. ( in diameter: it's smaller than the dome of
Rome's Pantheon (),
St. Peter's Basilica (), the
Florence Cathedral (), and the
Rotunda of Mosta () in Malta, but it's larger than
St. Paul's Cathedral () in London and
Hagia Sophia () in Istanbul). File:Catedral de la Almudena (Madrid) 25.jpg|
Almudena Cathedral is the current cathedral. File:Parroquia de santa Cristina - Madrid.jpg|Church of Santa Cristina (
Neo-Mudéjar) File:Iglesia de la Milagrosa (Madrid) 03.jpg|Basílica de la Milagrosa (
Gothic Revival) File:Iglesia de Nª Sra. de Guadalupe (Madrid) 02.jpg|Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (a
postconciliar church) The church is dedicated to
St. Francis of Assisi, who according to legend was established in Madrid during his pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela. Its sumptuous interior features many artworks, including paintings by
Goya and
Zurbarán.
The Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena is the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of Madrid. It is a temple long and high, built during the 19th and 20th centuries in a mixture of different styles: neoclassical exterior, neo-Gothic interior, neo-Romanesque crypt, and neo-Byzantine apse's paints. The cathedral was built in the same place as the Moorish citadel (
Al-Mudayna). It was consecrated by Pope
John Paul II on his fourth trip to Spain on 15 June 1993, thus becoming the only Spanish cathedral dedicated by a pope. The
Church of La Concepción is a
neogothic Catholic church, opened in 1914. == Bridges, viaducts, water supply and tunnels ==