The Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes was commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1477 to celebrate their victory at the Battle of Toro and to serve as a royal pantheon. The architect Juan Guas created a masterpiece of Isabelline Gothic — the Spanish late-Gothic style that combines pure Gothic structure with Flemish ornament and Mudéjar decoration. The result is intricate almost to excess: every surface carved, every cornice populated with heraldic eagles and the monarchs' royal emblems.
The two-story cloister is one of the loveliest in Spain. The lower gallery is Gothic, richly carved; the upper has a coffered timber ceiling and stone tracery. Bougainvillea often drapes the walls in summer. Outside the church, the south façade is decorated with iron chains — reportedly from Christian captives freed during the Reconquista and hung here in thanksgiving.
The church interior is smaller than you might expect given the extravagance of the exterior, but the single nave and the stone choir are fine. Budget an hour for the monastery and another thirty minutes to walk the surrounding streets.