Rehabilitation of the San Isidro chapel

Dating of the building: 1669.

Applicant: Department of Culture of the Madrid Regional Government.

Reason for the award :

For the conscientious reconstruction, using the few preserved fragments and some photographs before the fire in 1936.

The restoration work on the chapel of San Isidro in the church of San Andrés, burned down during the Civil War, lasted ten years.

The chapel dedicated to San Isidro, patron of Madrid canonized in 1622, is in the church of San Andrés of which he was a parishioner. It was built during the reign of Philip IV. The construction, inaugurated in 1669 and the work of José de Villareal, has since been considered one of the jewels of the Madrid Baroque. Its profuse decoration of marble, stuccoes, and stewed carvings stand out. Like other churches in the capital, the temple was burned down by uncontrolled militiamen when the Civil War broke out.

The restoration work lasted for ten years, starting in 1971 with the consolidation of the dome, collapsed during the war. In 1977 the Community of Madrid took over the work, assuming the costs of the whole rehabilitation of the chapel. The restorers decided, however, not to install the old canopy that once covered the saint’s burial ark, as his incorrupt body has been lying for centuries in the Collegiate Church that bears his name, in Toledo Street.

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