Madrid - San Francisco el Grande

The Church of San Francisco el Grande was built for an old-established Franciscan friary. The design for the church, which was begun in 1761, was produced by Fray Francisco Cabezas, who took as his model Carlo Fontana's Church of Santa Maria in Campitel in Rome. In 1770 Francisco Sabatini, Charles III's favorite architect, took over the direction of the project, and the Neo-Classical facade is his work. The dome was added in 1770 by Antonio Pló.

The interior - on a circular plan, with a dome and six chapels - has paintings by Maella, Francisco Bayeu, González Velázquez and Goya. In the first chapel on the left are Goya's "San Bernardino", González Velázquez's "St Bonaventure" and "The Appearance of the Virgin to St Anthony". The