The Patio of the Evangelists is a gardened patio (courtyard) in whose center rises the Doric tempietto, built between 1586 and 1591, to designs by Herrera. It contains sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the patio are the galleries of the main cloister, decorated with frescoes of scenes of the Redemption.

A complex which contains a monastery, palace, school, mausoleum and museum; Philip II built the monastery 1563-1584 as a memorial to victory over French in 1557. It became his main residence and was later was the dynastic center of the Spanish Hapsburgs. The monastery was originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine. The church of the monastery is the Basilica of San Lorenzo el Real.