The now defunct Convento de San Felipe el Real (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

: Convent of Saint Philip the Royal) (briefly called as San Felipe el Real) was a former Madrilenian convent of Calced Augustinian monks, located at the beginning of Calle Mayor in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, next to the

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol ( English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous c ...

Ramón Gómez de la Serna Ramón Gómez de la Serna y Puig (3 July 1888 in Madrid – 13 January 1963 in Buenos Aires) was a Spanish writer, dramatist and avant-garde agitator. He strongly influenced surrealist film maker Luis Buñuel. Ramón Gómez de la Serna was esp ...

, (1987), "Historia de la Puerta del Sol", Almambru Built between 16th and 17th centuries, was rise on a large pedestal (with protected perimeter of railings), was part of it a famous talking shop of the city (the Steps of San Felipe). One of its famous guests was Friar

Luis de León Luis de León ( Belmonte, Cuenca, 1527 – Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile, Spain, 23 August 1591), was a Spanish lyric poet, Augustinian friar, theologian and academic, active during the Spanish Golden Age. Early life Luis d ...

. It was opposite the Palacio de Oñate.

History

The beginning of the convent can be traced to 1539 when Francisco Osorio proposed to the City Council of Madrid the creation of a Convent of Calced Augustinian. Archbishop of Toledo, Don

Juan Martínez Silíceo Juan Martínez Silíceo (1486–1557) was a Spanish Roman Catholic bishop, cardinal and mathematician. Biography Juan Martínez Silíceo was born in Villagarcía de la Torre in 1486, the son of Juan Martínez Guijeno, a poor laborer, and Juana M ...

, refused alleging that in Madrid in that moment had two monasteries of mendicant friars: that of San Francisco and that of Nuestra Señora de Atocha. However the Archbishop of Toledo had to cede to the pleas of people coming to royalty such as Prince Philip II, Maria of Aragon, aunt of

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

and Prioress of the Augustinian Convent of Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Madrigal de las Altas Torres, or Leonor de Mascareñas. The Augustinian convent of San Felipe el Real was founded in 1547 by bull of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

of June 20. Luis Araujo-Costa, (1945),''«Hombres y Cosas de La Puerta del Sol»'', Madrid, pp:18-23 The temple was dedicated to

Saint Philip the Apostle Philip the Apostle ( el, Φίλιππος; Aramaic: ܦܝܠܝܦܘܣ; cop, ⲫⲓⲗⲓⲡⲡⲟⲥ, ''Philippos'') was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle ...

as was Prince Philip II a great devotee of him. For its construction was used part of a site owned by Count of Orgaz located near the ''wide street of Puerta del Sol'' (as it was called to the Puerta), which ceded to the Order in exchange for a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

. On the axis of the current ''calle de Esparteros'' was the entrance to the convent. At first it built a wooden chapel, inaugurated on March 14 of 1545. The church was carried out according to Plans of

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

and

Gaspar de Vega Gaspar is a given and/or surname of French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish origin, cognate to Casper (given name) or Casper (surname). It is a name of biblical origin, per Saint Gaspar, one of the wise men mentioned in the Bible. Notable peo ...

. To save the uneven ground the building was mounted on a platform or "

lonja Lonja is a river in central Croatia, a left tributary of the Sava. It is long and its basin covers an area of . The Lonja rises in the Kalnik mountain in northern Croatia, southeast of Novi Marof, at . It flows westward until turning south near ...

", underneath which a number of locals or "covachuelas" were stablished serving as markets. This space around the convent had been ceded by the City Council of Madrid under the condition of being clear and not be used for any purpose other than the public. On August 22, 1622 was murdered Juan de Tassis y Peralta Count of Villamediana in the door of the neighboring Palacio de Oñate. The church suffered a fire in 1718 and, during the French Napoleonic Invasion the whole was very mistreated. After the Confiscation of Mendizábal was demolished in 1838 to widen Calle Mayor and, instead, the first apartment building in the city was built, the Casa Cordero (1842-1845).

Steps of San Felipe

During 16th century the convent had a strong walls to isolate the convent life outside the bustle of the

. The construction of the facade by architect Juan Gutiérrez Toribio led a step surface that was called ''Lonja de San Felipe''. Gathered the Madrid's inhabitants in this area to exchange news, rumors, calumnies, inventions, secrets and opinions. For this reason it was called "mentidero" of

. The steps of San Felipe (Las Gradas de San Felipe) was also a gathering place to recruit soldiers destined to the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

during the War of Flanders. One day, due to the weight caused by the crush of people gathered on it to witness the prison of a reprobate, the balcony of the lonja sank. The accident caused many deaths and injuries.

Features

Its Renaissance cloister was considered one of the best in the city and the Court. A part of the known ''lonja'' with the steps that was called el mentidero, San Felipe el Real had under its floor a galleries called ''covachuelas'' that were marketplaces of different goods of various kinds, including toys and books.

References

{{Authority control Demolished buildings and structures in Madrid Religious buildings and structures completed in 1547 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1547 establishments in Spain Former churches in Spain Buildings and structures demolished in 1838