Monastery of Santa Isabel

The convent, which was badly damaged after the Civil War, still has the architecture of the church, one of the most important works of royal architect Juan Gómez de Mora. Its final location in Calle Atocha is due to the intervention of Queen Margarita of Austria, wife of Philip III. 

Construction of the church began during the reign of Philip IV, after resolving the disputes arising from the Queen's attempt to subject the nuns to the reform undertaken by Mother Mariana de San José, who was chosen to lead the new foundation of the Monastery of La Encarnación. In addition, this monarch freed the nuns from the burden of the school, entrusting it first to a group of lay women and later to the Assumptionists, the order that governs it to this day.

Pillaged by French troops, the nuns did not return there until 1816. It suffered a fire at the start of the Civil War and works of art were destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1946 with the sale of some artistic pieces saved by the nuns before the conflict. Although in 1936 the works of art that were in the temple disappeared, those of the cloister still remain, with important sculptures and paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, especially those of Salvador Maella and Vicente Carducho. In 1995, the Monastery of Santa Isabel was declared Cultural Heritage, categorised as a monument.