Madrid - San Isidro

The Cathedral of San Isidro stands in the heart of the old town of Madrid in Calle de Toledo, within easy reach of the Plaza Mayor, the busy Plaza de Tirso de Molina and the flea-market of El Rastro. The church, in the Jesuit Baroque style, was built in 1622 on the site of the earlier Church of St Francis Xavier which was consecrated in 1567 in the presence of Philip II. The architects were three Jesuits - Pedro Sánchez, Juan de Haro and Francisco Bautista. Soon afterwards a school, the Colegio Imperial, was erected in the adjoining Calle de Estudios.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the reign of Charles III the church was altered by Ventura Rodríguez and dedicated to San Isidro, Madrid's Patron Saint whose bones were transferred here from the chapel at San Andrés. Ferdinand VI (1816-23) restored it to the Jesuits. It is now serving temporarily as Madrid's cathedral pending the completion of the Almudena Cathedral.