The church of Santa Barbara. Salesas Reales Monastery.

J. L. Gamallo. The Salesas Reales Monastery was founded by King Ferdinand VI and his wife Barbara of Braganza. The Queen foreseeing that their marriage would be childless , urged the construction of a monastery to spend the rest of your life , if she survived the king. The Monastery is devoted to the education of girls nobles, taking care to them by the Salesas French Order, founded by St. Jane de Chantal .

The Monastery was begun around 1750 , in what was then the outskirts of town, meadow Recoletos . Eight years after the work was completed. Visitors who come to Madrid would do well to pay a visit to the Monastery , good as such no longer exists, with the seizure the monastery was alienated state in 1870 it became the Ministry of Justice.
So from that you can enjoy splendid set of the church, one of the most sumptuous in Madrid , located across the street from Barbara of Braganza. Now from the street impresses its magnificent facade , topped by a triangular pediment capped attic. The interior is a symphony of polychrome marbles , bronzes and gilded stucco . So the altar stands by its six marble columns, guarding a painting of the Visitation due to Francisco de Mura. This is not the place for a detailed exegesis of the church. Should cross it slowly, admiring all her treasures, several altars , vaults and domes, duly painted . Do not overlook two graves, one real and one political . Queen Doña Barbara died a year inaugurated its monastery, which was taken to be buried, for not being the mother of the king had no right to be buried in the Escorial. Her husband could not resitar the absence of the queen, and died, at 47, in 1759. Carlos III commissioned to Sabatini the construction of a large burial lush bronze , marble and porphyry , which accommodated his brother and sister-in-law . The grave is on the right side of the crossing , in front of the king and the queen behind .
On the left side is the grave political and military Leopoldo O'Donnell , died in 1867. The church was saved from iconoclastic and anti furor that hit Madrid in the early stages of the civil war, due to being with the Ministry of Justice , assault guards prevented its destruction and fire.