Life in the Old World: Basilica San Francisco el Grande and Mercado San Miguel

Wednesday (19^th) we headed to the Basilica San Francisco el grande. Once again, it was breathtaking inside! Around the main sitting area there branched off six smaller rooms that were dedicated to various saints. Also, the ceiling was beautifully painted with Biblical scenes. Around the room were twelve enormous statues depicting the twelve apostles. We also got to see the sacristy, where the priests get dressed. It was a pretty nice dressing room! Ornate wood carved benches and pictures from St. Francis’ (or San Francisco’s) life on the ceiling. The hallway leading into the dressing room had about 30 very large paintings showing different parts of St. Francis’ life; including his baptism and ministering to people and even what looked like a confrontation with the Pharaoh of Egypt.

The Church is dedicated to Our Lady of Angels but is usually known as San Francisco El Grande. Saint Francis came to Spain in 1214 on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Apostle James. St. Francis built a place for himself and his companions. The church was enlarged and enriched until it surpassed all other religious fraternities in Madrid. The building was demolished in August 1760 in order to build and new and more beautiful one. The first stone was laid in August of 1761 with a hold on building in 1768 for a few years because of a disagreement over the plan for the dome and was finished in 1784. The building was consecrated in December with King Carlos III in attendance.

After the Law of Secularization in 1837 the church was turned into a National Mausoleum. In 1878 the President of the Cabinet Council had restoration and embellishment work done which resulted in what the church looks like today. In February 1889 the church was opened again to the public and services were resumed. One interesting fact the foundation “Obra Pía” (now administered by The Minister for Foreign Affairs) is in charge of restoration and embellishment and has been ever since King Carlos III by Royal Decree made it so in July 1785. So the same foundation has been in charge of keeping the church nice for 226 years!

After the church we headed to the Mercado de San Miguel. It has been in this location since 1915. There are probably about 20-30 little stalls selling various tapas, drinks, sandwiches, fruits, nuts, pastries and desserts and wine. We had lunch here and then headed out again. We were planning to get some groceries in Sol and then head home for a siesta but when we got to Sol we became distracted with some streets we had never been down and ended up finding another church to wander into: Real Iglesia Parroquial de San Gines. You would think after you have seen one small unbelievably elaborately decorated room dedicated to some saint or a main altar or a beautifully painted ceiling you would have seen them all. Not true. Each church is so unique in their artwork and altars to the saints it is amazing! We love finding these churches that we can wander into because they are all distinctly different. After spending some time in this church and getting some pictures we got our groceries and headed home for our siesta.

El Jardin Sabitini