Church of Saint Jerome the Royal, Gothic church near Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain.
The Church of Saint Jerome the Royal is a Gothic church of pale stone and reddish brick in central Madrid. Its broad facade has two tall octagonal pinnacles with pointed caps, a round rose window above a tall arched window, and a recessed portal with carved tympanum and dark wooden double doors behind a black iron fence. A square tower topped by a spire with pinnacles rises at one end, and wide stone steps lead up from the street.
The Hieronymite monastery was founded after 1502, when Isabella I granted the monks land in Madrid because their earlier site by the Manzanares was marshy; the church was built in Isabelline Gothic style. On 18 April 1528 Philip of Habsburg was sworn Prince of Asturias here, a ceremony repeated until Isabel II in 1833. French troops occupied the monastery in 1808, and Narciso Pascual Colomer restored the church between 1848 and 1859, adding the towers flanking the apse.
Popularly called Los Jerónimos, the church keeps the name of the Hieronymite order that ran the monastery. It was the setting for the oath of Philip of Habsburg as Prince of Asturias in 1528, a ceremony repeated here until Isabel II in 1833, and for the wedding of Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia on 31 May 1906. Since 1975 it has been a parish church.
The church stands right next to the Prado Museum and is open to visitors during most daytime hours outside of services. A short walk from Retiro Park leads to the entrance, where you can view the architecture and interior at your own pace.
The monastery cloister designed by Friar Lorenzo de San Nicolás lay in ruins for decades, its walls partly collapsed and weeds growing among the columns. In 2007 it was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt as a cubic room by Rafael Moneo for the Prado's expansion, known as the Cubo de Moneo.
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