Convent of La Encarnación de Griñón
Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Monument
The Convent of the Incarnation
El Convent of the Annunciation of Griñón, founded by the canon Don Rodrigo de Vivar, constitutes the earliest XNUMXth century foundation in the Madrid region that remains in its place of origin and preserves its primitive structures, maintaining the spiritual environment with which it was created. In addition, it is a representative example of the female convent typology of the first third of the XNUMXth century in Madrid and in Castilla, characterized by simplicity both in the building plan and in its structures, based on the functionality and needs of the religious community.
In this building they meet influences of different aesthetics, which coexisted in the cultural environment of the late XNUMXth century and the first half of the XNUMXth century, present in the typology of the plan of the church of Gothic origin, in the traditional Mudejar coffered ceilings, and in the Renaissance influence in decorative elements, such as capitals and corbels, a characteristic that gives rise to an architecture of notable interest.
In the church, the wooden frames of the chancel and choir stand out in a special way, since, even though they are elements with hardly any decoration, they constitute good examples of the carpentry to assemble in the Mudejar tradition characterizing much of religious architecture since the Middle Ages.
Special mention deserves main altarpiece, Dedicated to the Annunciation of Mary, a work of Renaissance architecture with polychrome Plateresque decoration from the Toledo workshops of the first third of the 1533th century, with paintings by the Toledo painter Juan Correa de Vivar, nephew of the founder of the convent, executed between 1536 and XNUMX.
Historic context
El Convent of Clarisas de la Encarnacion It was founded by Don Rodrigo de Vivar, canon of Zamora in the year 1523.
In the foundation deed and dating, dated in 1530, Rodrigo de Vivar established the necessary conditions for the foundation of a female congregation of the Tertiary Order of San Francisco, with the name of Nuestra Señora de la Salutación, its first residents being sisters from the convent of Nuestra Señora de los Plains of Almagro.
Initially, the founder established that the convent would not be occupied by more than twenty nuns, who were preferably from the town of Griñón and related to the Vivar family. However, as the account books show, during the XNUMXth century the community experienced some growth.
During the XNUMXth century, a time of prosperity, economic optimism and political affirmation, a good number of convents were founded throughout the Madrid region. It must be borne in mind that the convents were founded as places of prayer and spirituality, but also as instruments of power and the search for social recognition and prestige for the founders and, in this sense, as a burial place. Thus, the most outstanding families, such as the Mendoza, the Medinaceli, the Guzmán or the Lasso de Vega, and other nobles and hidalgos, from the enclave of their lordships or mayorazgos, began a process of founding convents throughout the region.
At nineteenth century The convent must have suffered the effects of the wars and the confiscation process, finding itself in a delicate economic and structural situation. During the Civil War The convent was used as military accommodation, being restored in the forties and its function later recovered. Since 1970 the community has professed the Rule of the Order of Santa Clara, in what meant a return to the origins of the order.
patrimonial values
The convent complex is made up of:
- Church with a plant formed by a quadrangular head, a nave and a low and high choir at the feet. The main chapel is covered with a wooden armor Mudejar tradition. It presents musk with lace decoration and a frieze with remains of a polychrome inscription in late Gothic script that alludes to the passage of the Annunciation.
- El altarpiece of the main chapel, Dedicated to the Annunciation, it is an exceptional example of 1510th-century Madrid altarpieces. It is a work of Renaissance architecture with polychrome Plateresque decoration, from the Toledo workshops of the first third of the century, and paintings by the Toledo painter Juan Correa de Vivar (c.1566-XNUMX).
- Sacristy and confessional.
- Cloister, that shows the characteristics of a domestic architecture of the Mudejar tradition, which became a common typology throughout Castile during the XNUMXth century, formed by a quadrangular patio, with two lintelled floors supported by stone columns, around which are distributed the most important rooms: chapter house, refectory and kitchen, parlor and access stairs to the upper choir and to the cells that were located on the second floor.
- Patio attached to the north panda of the cloister, formed by two wings with three floors, where the work rooms, cells, visiting room and the house of the petitioner were located.
- The land occupied by the old orchard is integrated into the perimeter of the fence that closes the convent. They keep the cemetery of the nuns and landscaped areas.
The convent, with all its dependencies, is organized around a scheme of extreme both structural and decorative simplicity, with a sober architectural language, but highly functional, rooms covered by simple afarjes, total absence of decoration, which was determined by the characteristics of the order and the rule that governed their way of life.
The church adopts a frequent typology in XNUMXth century religious convents, made up of a quadrangular main chapel, a nave without a transept, free of obstacles and which allowed good visibility and adequate hearing, covered with wooden frameworks of the Mudejar tradition, Two-storey choir at the foot of the temple and lack of composition on the façade, accessing the interior through a simple lateral doorway independent of the convent.
Another notable characteristic of these convents built in the first half of the XNUMXth century is the coexistence of different styles in their constructions. The main chapel will generally be square gothic tradition; the wooden roofs of mudejar tradition, generally without decoration, as a cheaper and less complex way of covering the naves than a vaulted roof. At the same time they are introduced elements from the Italian Renaissance, fundamentally in capitals or in liturgical elements, such as the altarpieces that decorate their churches.
The nave of the church was covered with a vaulted system characteristic of the baroque period, possibly due to problems in the original wooden cover.
Image gallery
