Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida

Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida
Native name
Spanish: Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida
Location Madrid, Spain
Coordinates 40°25′31″N 3°43′32″W / 40.425363°N 3.725597°W / 40.425363; -3.725597Coordinates: 40°25′31″N 3°43′32″W / 40.425363°N 3.725597°W / 40.425363; -3.725597
Official name: Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida
Type Non-movable
Criteria Monument
Designated 1905
Reference no. RI-51-0000088
Location of Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida in Spain

The Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida (Spanish: Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida) is a Neoclassical chapel in central Madrid. The chapel is best known for its ceiling and dome frescoes by Goya. It is also his burial place.

Goya's fresco depicting the legend of Saint Anthony reviving a dead man

History

The chapel was built in the general location of two prior chapels built in the 1730s, which were on the land of a farm called La Florida. The present structure was built by Felipe Fontana from 1792 to 1798 on the orders of King Carlos IV, who also commissioned the frescoes by Goya and his assistant Asensio Juliá.[1]

The structure was declared a national monument in 1905.[1] In 1919 Goya's remains were transferred here from Bordeaux, where he had died in 1828.[1] In 1928 an identical chapel was built alongside the original, in order to allow the original to be converted into a museum.[1][2]

On every June 13, the chapel becomes the site of a lively pilgrimage in which young unwed women come to pray to Saint Anthony and to ask for a partner.[3]

Frescoes

The frescoes by Goya were completed over a six-month period in 1798. The frescoes portray miracles by Saint Anthony of Padua. On the main cupola of the chapel Goya depicted Saint Anthony raising a dead man; instead of portraying the scene as occurring in thirteenth-century Lisbon, Goya relocated the miracle to contemporary Madrid.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Una ermita con historia". San Antonio de la Florida (in Spanish). Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "San Antonio de la Florida: One of Goya's Masterpieces". Buildings and Monuments. E.M. Promoción Madrid. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ "La devoción a San Antonio en la ribera del Manzanares". San Antonio de la Florida (in Spanish). Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Retrieved June 13, 2011.

Media related to San Antonio de la Florida Hermitage at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.