The Church of Saint Cajetan, known as the church of San Millán y San Cayetano is a Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 church in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

History

The present church was built adjacent to the now absent Convent of Nuestra Señora del Favor (Our Lady of the Graces). It was built at the site of an oratory dedicated to St. Mark and Our Lady of the Graces, and founded in 1612 by Diego de Vera y Ordóñez de Villaquián. Thirty two years later, the father Plácido Mirto establishes a Convent of the Theatine Order. The church is dedicated to the founder of the order, Saint Cajetan

Saint Cajetan

Saint Cajetan , born Gaetano dei Conti di Tiene , is a Catholic Church saint and founder of the order of the Clerics Regular, better known as the Theatines...

 of Thiene. In 1822, the remaining monks were moved to a convent in Zaragoza

Zaragoza

Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

, and the convent, which had suffered depredations during the Napoleonic occupation of the peninsula, was ceded temporarily to the Franciscans of San Gil. In 1836, after the Desamortización de Mendizábal, the convent building becomes private apartments. In 1869, the church is joined to the parish of the demolished Saint Millán Abad. On July 19, 1936, arson gutted all but the facade. In 1960, reconstruction began on the church. In 1980 San Cayetano was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural

Bien de Interés Cultural

A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the Spanish heritage register. This category dates from 1985 when it replaced the former heritage category of Monumento nacional in order to extend protection to a wider range of cultural property...

by the Spanish government.

Description

Construction of the church began in 1669 by the architect Marcos López. Work was continued by others, including likely José de Churriguera and Pedro de Ribera

Pedro de Ribera

Pedro de Ribera was a Spanish architect of the Baroque period.-Biography:Ribera worked almost exclusively in Madrid during the first half of the 18th century. He was a disciple of José Benito de Churriguera...

, and not completed till 1761 by Francisco de Moradillo.

Moradillo facade was built of granite, and consists of three arches. Over the arches are statues of San Cajetan, Our Lady of Grace, and San Andrés Avelino, by Pedro Alonso de los Ríos.

External links

• La iglesia de San Cayetano, del siglo XVIII, en peligro de ruina inminente, El País, 11 de mayo de 1980
• Iglesia de San Cayetano. Madrid Histórico.
• Intervención de Pedro de Ribera en la Iglesia de San Cayetano. Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Segundo semestre de 1993. Número 77 '
• Translated from Spanish Wikipedia entry.