Hospital Real y General de Nuestra Señora de Gracia

The old Royal and General Hospital of Nuestra Señora de Gracia was situated in the Coso, between Porcell street and the Plaza de España. Destroyed during the first Siege (1808), it was moved to its current location, occupying the buildings of what was the Convalescence Hospital; this unit had been built due to the initiative of Archbishop Diego de Castrillo, as a place for poor patients to convalesce.

The façade of the church has a simple front door with the arms of the founder and the image of the Virgin with sick people at her feet. The central interior space is covered with an elliptic dome over a Greek cross plan. The scallops are decorated with medallions in relief of the Evangelists, and under them there are closed tribunes with wooden latticework; the ornamentation  is completed with four canvases framed by sumptuous frames with golden flowers. On the side of the Evangelist there is a magnificent image of Christ crucified, known popularly as the ,Cristo de los artistas, (Christ of the artist), of great emotion.

The High Altarpiece (1770-1775) is the work of the sculptor Joaquin Arali and of the painter Jose Luzan, who was the first teacher of Bayeu and Goya. On the very large central canvas the theme of the front door is repeated: the virgin accompanied by the benefactor archbishop, surrounded by praying sick and poor.