We had been to the lovely church at the top of the Spanish Steps many times, but never to the adjacent convent. Visiting was easy: we visited the church and convent’s website, sent an email requesting a guided tour in English, and shortly afterward we received a polite reply. A few weeks later we were climbing the stairs to the left of the church’s facade, the entrance to the cloister.

Our tour group consisted of six people and an enthusiastic guide from France. We began by walking within the cloister, admiring the beautiful paintings that decorate it. Many of the paintings represent French kings since, after all, this is a French church complex.

Our next stop was in the little chapel of Mater Admirabilis, which is open to the public for prayer.

One level above the arcade, the convent holds not one, but two fascinating and unique surprises. The first is an anamorphosis: a fresco that, thanks to an engaging optical effect, changes its appearance depending on where you stand. These frescoes were created by 17th-century French Minim monks including Father Emmanuel Maignan (1601–1676), who taught mathematics at the convent, and his disciple Jean-François Niceron (1613–1646).

As you walk down the hallway, there’s another tree …

After the tree is a figure of a man, praying under the tree: Saint Francis of Paola (1416–1507).

As you keep moving, what you are left with is a landscape scene.

Here’s our video of the experience,

Then we were on to another wonder in this little convent, to be covered in our next post.