Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great

About

The Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great (Spanish: Real Basílica de San Francisco el Grande) is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the neighborhood of Palacio. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the intersection of Bailén, the Gran Vía de San Francisco, and the Carrera de San Francisco. It forms part of the convent of Jesús y María of the Franciscan order. The convent was founded in the 13th century at the site of a chapel. The building was erected on the plot previously occupied by a primitive Franciscan convent (according to tradition founded by the very same Francis of Assisi in 1217), demolished on the occasion upon orders by Charles III, who sought to build a new convent from scratch. It was designed in a Neoclassic style in the second half of the 18th century, based on a design by Francisco Cabezas, developed by Antonio Pló, and completed by Francesco Sabatini. The church contains many good paintings representing Spanish painting from the 17th to 19th century, including one by Zurbarán and one by Francisco Goya. The walls of the temple were painted in the 19th century. The temple once functioned as the National pantheon and enshrined...

Although they are derelict and unringable, the church holds the only peal of change ringing bells in Spain, cast by John Warner and Sons in 1882 and weighing around 430 kg (950 lb). Although unringable they were the only peal of change ringing church bells in mainland Europe until 2017, when St George's Church in Ypres received a peal of their own.

Print showing translation of the remains of Calderón de la Barca from the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great to the cemetery of san Nicolás, by the original viaduct of the Segovia street, in 1874.