Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales

This award-winning museum is also a working convent – a haven of peace and quiet after the noise and bustle of Puerta del Sol and the Gran Vía nearby. The building started out as a palace, owned by the royal treasurer, Alonso Gutiérrez, but in 1555 he sold it to the sister of Felipe II, Juana of Austria, who founded the convent four years later. The nuns were Franciscans, but became known, because of their aristocratic backgrounds, as the “Barefoot Royals”. The convent is crammed with works of art – paintings, frescoes, sculptures, tapestries, tiles, woodcarvings, embroidered vestments, liturgical gold and silverware – donated by the nuns’ wealthy relatives. The church (rarely open to the public) contains the tomb of Juana of Austria.

Plaza de las Descalzas Reales 3 91 45 48800 www.patrimonionacional.es Open 10:30am– 12:45pm, 4–5:45pm Tue–Thu & Sat; 10:30am–12:45pm Fri; 11am–1:45pm Sun; closed 1 Jan, 6 Jan, Easter, 1 May, 15 May, 9 Nov, 24–25 Dec, 31 Dec Adm €5 (free Wed for EU citizens)