Santiponce Itálica

Heritage

An immense legacy waiting to be discovered

Shrine To Santa Ana (Now the Municipal Library)

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This old Shrine is now the cultural centre of the Municipal Public Library and the Municipal Historical Archives.

The plastered brickwork, the single rectangular nave with a flat apse, the coffered ceiling, and the Flanders pine roof, inherited from the Mudejar tradition, appear to suggest that the building was built in the second half of the 17th century. The Shrine’s former presbytery (main Chapel) was also covered with a wooden coffered ceiling of similar characteristics to the one that still exists today (adult reading room). 

The Shrine to Santa Ana has been closely linked, from its beginnings, with the devotion to Our Lady of Setefilla when she was taken back and forth to the town. To this day, the bells in the bell gable ring out to bring people together to request the coming of the Virgin Mary.

The façade has decorative elements very similar to those of the Church of Our Father Jesus; therefore, it is likely that Diego Antonio Díaz, the builder of the El Llano Shrine participated in the baroque reform of the Shrine to Santa Ana. The Shrine to Santa Ana remained open for worship until the late 19th century, possibly until the revolution of 1868. However, it was not until 1928 that it was listed as municipal property. Nonetheless, the Shrine was no longer used for worship in 1897, having been converted into a school.

The most extensive renovation of the building took place in 1974 when it was decided that the former Santa Ana school housed in the Shrine would be converted into the Municipal Public Library. The renovation was carried out by the architect Cipriano Gómez Pérez.

Opening times
  • Monday and Wednesday: 9:00 to 13:30 and 16:30 to 21:30
  • Tuesday and Thursday: 9:30 to 13:30 and 17:00 to 21:30
  • Friday: 9:00 to 13:30 and 16:30 to 21:30
  • Saturday: 10:00 to 13:00

Summer: 1 July to 31 August

  • Monday-Friday: 8:30 to 14:00

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