Descalzas Reales is a monastery founded in 1559 by Juana de Austria, queen of Portugal in 1559 and sister of the king Felipe II. It is located in the center of Madrid, in the so known Madrid de los Asturias, a wide part of the city that started to be built in 1561 during the reign of Carlos I and Felipe II.
©Rodney
The monastery, a classicistic building from the XVI century, consists of a plateresque Castilian palace with columns made of marble from Genoa. The rooms are decorated with tiles and plasterwork, typical of the Moorish tradition, using forms and styles of the Renaissance. The architects who built this monument were Antonio Sillero and Juan Bautista de Toledo. The monastery holds many important pieces of art and nowadays it works as a museum open to the public.
Las Descalzas Reales was erected where the houses of Carlos V were, and so where its founder, Juana de Asturia, was born. The sepulchral chapel of Juana is situated in the monastery right in the place where she was born.
Address
Plaza de las Descalzas, s/n, 28013 Madrid, Spain.
Getting there
Monasterio de las Reales Descalzas is only 500 meters away from Puerta del Sol, so by walking 6 minutes you will easily get there:
Head south on Calle de la Ballesta toward Calle Loreto y Chicote, turn right onto Calle del Desengaño, turn left onto Calle Mesonero Romanos, continue onto Calle Rompelanzas, continue onto Calle Maestro Victoria, turn right onto Calle de la Misericordia and the monastery will be on the right.
By bus
Lines 3, 25, 39 and 148.
By subway
Opera station, line 2.
Opening hours
From Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 2:00pm and from 4:00pm to 6:30pm.
Sundays and holidays: from 10:00am to. 3:00pm
