Convent sights in Spain
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A
Convent de Santa Clara
This church is a gloomy baroque affair. It was closed for renovation when we were here, but, in any event, locals prefer to pop into the adjacent building, because the handful of cloistered nuns maintain a centuries-old tradition of baking sweets for sale.
You will see a torno, a kind of timber turnstile set in a window. Ring for a nun, order what you want and put money into the turnstile. This swivels around and out come your bocaditos de almendra (almond nibbles) or rollitos de anís (aniseed rolls), at €3 for 200g.
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Convento de San Marcos
More than 100m long and blessed with a glorious facade, the Convento de San Marcos (lying within the Hostal de San Marcos) looks more like a palace than the pilgrim's hospital it was from 1173. The plateresque exterior, sectioned off by slender columns and decorated with delicate medallions and friezes, dates to 1513, by which time the edifice had become a monastery of the Knights of Santiago. Much of the former convent is now a supremely elegant parador, which is off-limits to nonguests. To visit the former chapter house and magnificent cloister, head to the eastern end of the facade, signposted as the Museo de León.
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Colegio del Arzobispo Fonseca
The 16th-century Colegio has a plateresque facade, a lovely courtyard and a sophisticated restaurant.
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Convento de las Dueñas
This Dominican convent is home to the city's most beautiful cloister, with some decidedly ghoulish carvings on the capitals.
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Convento de los Carmelitas Descalzos
This is where San Juan de la Cruz is buried. The area immediately south of the convent affords fine views up to the Alcázar, and it's worth coming down here just for the views.
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Convento de San Antonio El Real
About 1.3km southeast of the aqueduct, this was once the summer residence of Enrique IV. The Gothic-Mudéjar church has a splendid ceiling.
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Convento y Museo de las Úrsulas
A late-Gothic nunnery founded by Archbishop Alonso de Fonseca in 1512, the religious museum is fairly modest with some interesting paintings by Juan de Borgoña, who completed the stunning altar in Ávila Cathedral, but do take a look at the magnificent marble tomb within the church, sculpted by Diego de Siloé.
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Convento de Santo Domingo El Antiguo
One of the oldest convents in Toledo, the 11th-century Monasterio de Santo Domingo El Antiguo includes some of El Greco’s early commissions (most are copies). Visible through an iron grating is the crypt and wooden coffin of the painter himself.
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Convento de las Trinitarias
When Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died in 1616, his body was interred at the Convento de las Trinitarias, which is marked by a plaque. Still home to cloistered nuns, the convent is closed to the public, which saves the authorities’ embarrassment: no one really knows where in the convent the bones of Cervantes lie. A commemorative Mass is held for him here every year on the anniversary of his death, 23 April.
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Convento de San Esteban
Just down the hill from the cathedral, the lordly Convento de San Esteban's church has an extraordinary altar-like facade, with the stoning of San Esteban (St Stephen) as its central motif. Inside is a well-presented museum dedicated to the Dominicans, a splendid Gothic-Renaissance cloister and an elaborate church built in the form of a Latin cross and adorned by an overwhelming 17th-century altar by José Churriguera.
reviewed
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Convento de la Encarnación
Founded by Empress Margarita de Austria, this 17th-century mansion built in the Madrid baroque style (a pleasing amalgam of brick, exposed stone and wrought iron) is still inhabited by nuns of the Augustine order. The large art collection dates mostly from the 17th century and among the many gold and silver reliquaries is one that contains the blood of San Pantaleón, which purportedly liquefies each year on 27 July. The convent also sits on a pretty plaza with lovely views down towards the Palacio Real.
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Mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares
Across the plaza from the Puerta Santa is the long, stark wall of the Mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares, founded by Alfonso II for Benedictine monks to look after St James' relics, and converted to a nunnery in 1499.
Climbing the steps at the top of the plaza you'll find the entrance to the convent, above which stands the beatific figure of the 10th-century Galician child saint San Paio, his throat being slashed in reference to his martyrdom in Córdoba. Keep an eye out for the sacred art museum, containing the original alter raised over the Santiago relics.
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Convento de las Descalzas Reales
The grim, prisonlike walls of this one-time palace keep modern Madrid at bay and offer no hint that behind the sober plateresque facade lies a sumptuous stronghold of the faith.
The compulsory guided tour (in Spanish) leads you up a gaudily frescoed Renaissance stairway to the upper level of the cloister. The vault was painted by Claudio Coello, one of the most important artists of the 17th-century Madrid School and whose works adorn San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
You then pass several of the convent’s 33 chapels – a maximum of 33 Franciscan nuns is allowed to live here (perhaps because Christ is said to have been 33 when he died) as part of a closed order. These nuns follow…
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