Church of Saint Jerome the Royal

Lateral view

The original Hieronymites monastery, the Monasterio de Santa María del Paso, had been built near the Monte de El Pardo, on the banks of the river Manzanares, during the reign of Henry IV of Castile.[1] However, due to the marshiness of the site, which caused much sickness among the monks, in 1502 Isabella I granted the monks land on which to build a new monastery, which was built in Isabelline Gothic style.[1] The church was chosen for the investiture of the Princes of Asturias and future king Philip II on April 18, 1528.

When King Philip II moved the Spanish court to Madrid in 1561, he had his retreat enlarged to become the Palacio del Buen Retiro. He established a royal bedroom against the presbytery, such that he could hear mass from his bedroom. The Palacio del Buen Retiro was largely destroyed in the Napoleonic French occupation of Madrid. In 1808 the monks were expelled from the monastery and French troops were quartered in the monastery, causing major damage to the building, and the church was almost left in ruins.

Three stained-glass windows by the French artist J. P. Anglade, Paris, 1881

The first major restoration was carried out during the reign of Isabel II of Spain, between 1848 and 1859, by the architect Narciso Pascual Colomer,[1] in the Isabelline Gothic style, who added some new elements, such as towers. The second restoration, 1879 to 1883, by Enrique María Repullés, transformed the building into its current role as a parish church.[1] Only a few external features remain of its original structure. The exterior remodeling of the nineteenth century in a neo-Gothic style by Pontian Ponzano remains controversial.

The stairway that faces the street, was constructed in 1906 on the occasion of the wedding of King Alfonso XIII to provide more impressive access to the church. For many decades, the Baroque cloister, designed by Lorenzo de San Nicolás, remained in disrepair. Finally, in 2007, an agreement between the church and the government led to the appropriation of the land for the cloister by the Prado Museum. The inner courtyard facade was dismantled, and then rebuilt as a cubic room, designed by Rafael Moneo in an expansion of the museum. The wing has been labeled the Cubo de Moneo, (Moneo's Cube).

The church contains sculptures by Benlliure, Juan Pascual de Mena’s 18th-century Cristo de la Buena Muerte, and paintings by Vincenzo Carducci and José Méndez, neo-Gothic lamps and stained-glass windows.

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  Interior
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  Head of gargoyle
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  Detail of east facade.

• Catholic Church in Spain
• Jerónimos Monastery
• List of oldest church buildings

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iglesia de San Jerónimo el Real.

• WikiSource — Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Jerome
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