Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, Madrid


The Royal Basilica of San Francisco el Grande is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the Barrio of Palacio.
The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the intersection of Bailén, the Gran Vía de San Francisco, and the Carrera de San Francisco. It forms part of the convent of Jesús y María of the Franciscan order. The convent was founded in the 13th century at the site of a chapel.
The basilica was designed in a Neoclassic style in the second half of the 18th century, based on a design by Francisco Cabezas, developed by Antonio Pló, and completed by Francesco Sabatini. The church contains paintings by Zurbarán and Francisco Goya. The walls of the temple was painted in the XIX century. The temple once functioned as the National pantheon and enshrined the remains of famous artists and politicians. Today is an important tourism point.
The dome is in diameter and in height; its shape is very similar to the Pantheon's dome, having a more circular shape than the typical domes built in the 18th century. It is the 3th biggest dome in Christendom.

Bells

Although they are derelict and unringable, the church holds the only peal of change ringing bells in Spain, cast by John Warner and Sons in 1882 and weighing around 430kg. Although unringable they were the only peal of change ringing church bells in mainland Europe until 2017, when St George's Church in Ypres received a peal of their own.