Convent of Las Descalzas Reales

The Convent of Las Descalzas Reales of Madrid occupies the grounds of the former royal palace of Charles I of Spain and Isabella of Portugal, where their daughter Joanna of Austria was born in 1535. After being widowed by the death of Prince John of Portugal, Joanna founded this convent of barefoot Franciscan nuns in 1557.

It holds important collections of sacred art from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, including the notable collection of tapestries woven in Brussels and based on cartoons by Rubens. These represent the Triumph of the Eucharist and were commissioned for the Convent by the daughter of Philip II, Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, sovereign of the Low Countries.