Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes

Commissioned by the Catholic Monarchs to commemorate a decisive victory and intended as their burial place, this Franciscan monastery in Toledo is a masterpiece of the Isabelline late-Gothic style. Its church interior is encrusted with heraldic emblems, and the exterior walls once displayed the chains of Christian captives freed from Muslim rule. The two-storey cloister is a highlight, its ornate tracery, gargoyles and vaulting among the finest in Spain. The monarchs were ultimately buried in Granada, leaving a jewel on the city's edge.