Tabernacle used in the sense of a liturgical container to hold the consecrated Host near the altar. In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level of the altar is is a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze.

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.