La Mercedes Church and Tower

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The current La Merced Church was built in 1650, although it was extensively renovated in the second half of the 18th century. The friars arrived in Osuna in 1609. They initially settled in the Shrine to Santa Ana, on the outskirts of the city. After two failed attempts, they built a new monastery on its current site in 1637. The more reliable information about this church dates back to the eighteenth century, with records about significant works carried out under Antonio Ruiz Florindo, including extensive renovation works, the construction of the magnificent stone façade and the tower and the installation of the Genoese marble flooring and the altarpieces.

The temple has a single nave with a barrel vault and barrel arches with side chapels between buttresses. It has a flat apse and a transept covered by a dome on pendentives decorated with plasterwork.

The main portal is flanked by encased pilasters that end in a curved and broken pediment. In the right corner is one of the most beautiful towers in the province, built between 1767 and 1775 by the master-builder Alonso Ruiz Florindo. It consists of four levels and a spire. It combines ashlars and bricks to create festoons and cut-out panels. The bottom level has a portal flanked by Corinthian balusters.

The convent’s altarpiece is currently in the Chapel of the Seafarers of the Confraternity of the Esperanza de Triana in Seville.

The church is at present the seat of the Social Economy School (FAECTA). It is closed to the public and does not have any services of worship.

Labels

Antonio Ruiz Florindo

Altarpiece