Convento de San Felipe el Real
Coordinates: 40°24′59.09″N 3°42′18.04″W / 40.4164139°N 3.7050111°W
The now defunct Convento de San Felipe el Real (in English: Convent of Saint Philip the Royal) (referred briefly as San Felipe el Real) was a former Madrilenian convent of Augustinian monks, located at the beginning of the Calle Mayor of Madrid, next to the Puerta del Sol[1] Built between the 16th and 17th centuries, was built on a large pedestal (with protected perimeter of railings) which was the most famous talking shop of the city (the Steps of San Felipe). One of its famous guests was Fray Luis de León.[2] It was opposite the Palacio de Oñate.
History
The beginnings of the convent can be traced to 1539 when Francisco Osorio proposes to the City Council of Madrid the creation of a Convent of Augustinian. The Archbishop of Toledo, Don Juan Martínez Silíceo, which refused claiming that in Madrid already had two monasteries of mendicant friars: of San Francisco and the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. But the archbishop of Toledo had to yield at last to the entreaties of people next to the royalty such as the Prince Philip, Maria of Aragon, aunt of Charles V 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 of June 20.[2] The temple was dedicated to Saint Philip the Apostle as was the Prince Philip his great devotee. For its construction was used part of the site owned by the Count of Orgaz located near the wide street of Puerta del Sol (as it was called at la Puerta), which ceded it to the Order in exchange for a chapel. The entrance to the convent was in the focus of the current calle de Esparteros. At first it had built a wooden chapel, which inaugurated on March 14 in 1545. The church was performed according to plans by Luis de Vega and Gaspar de Vega. To save the unevenness of the ground the building was mounted on a platform or "lonja", under which a number of locals or "covachuelas" which served 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.
Juan de Tassis and Peralta Count of Villamediana was assassinated on August 22, 1622 in the door of the neighbor Palacio de Oñate.
The church suffered a fire in 1718 and the whole complex was very mistreated during War of Independence. After the confiscation of Mendizábal, was demolished in 1838 to widen the Calle Mayor and, instead, was built the first apartment building in the city, the Casa Cordero (1842 - 1845).
The Steps of San Felipe
During the 16th century the convent had a strong walls to isolate the convent life outside the bustle of the Puerta del Sol. The construction of the facade by architect Juan Gutiérrez Toribio resulted in a tiered surface was called Lonja de San Felipe. In this area it gathered the Madrid's inhabitants to exchange news, rumors, calumnies, inventions, secrets and opinions. It is for this reason that it is called "mentidero" of Madrid.[1] The steps of San Felipe (Las Gradas de San Felipe) were also a gathering place to recruit soldiers for the Spanish Netherlands during War of Flanders. One day the balcony of the lonja sank under the weight caused by the crush of people gathered to witness the imprisonment of a reprobate. The accident caused many deaths and injuries.
Features
Its Renaissance cloister was considered one of the best in the city and the Court. Apart from the well-known lonja with the steps that it called the mentidero, San Felipe el Real had under its plant a galleries called covachuelas that were place and market of different goods of various kinds, including toys and books.
References
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