Madrid - Trinitarian Convent

(Local Name: Convento de las Trinitarias) The Convento de las Trinitarias is in the quiet Calle Lope de Vega, near the Plaza de Santa Ana in the "literary quarter" of Madrid. The charming conventual church with its three-arched entrance and its oval windows is flanked by two plain two-story blocks with balconies. The convent was founded in 1612, but the present buildings date only from 1673. Designed by Marcos López, it is a showpiece of 17th C. Madrid architecture. The convent is also notable as the burial-place of Miguel de Cervantes (d. 1616), creator of the immortal figure of Don Quixote. The position of his grave can no longer be identified. A daughter of Cervantes, who lived in the nearby Calle Cervantes, took the veil in this convent. The daughter of Lope de Vega, who had a house in the same street as the convent, was also a nun here, under the name of Sor Marcela.