Cascadas del Hueznar

Seville enchants

In 1513, the 4th Count of Ureña gifted the old San Sebastián Chapel and the adjoining charity hospital to the friars of the Order of Preachers so that they could found their convent. The Count had it recorded that the Chapel should not be demolished but rather incorporated into the new church. Its construction was completed on 7 March 1547.

The old Cilla del Cabildo Colegial, today the Parish House of the city, was built in 1773, according to the date engraved on the façade. Built by the architect Antonio Ruiz Florindo, it resembles more a palace than an industrial building, where the grain and fruits paid as a tithe to the church was stored.

This building was commissioned to the Sevillian master-builder Ambrosio de Figueroa in the 18th century by the San Juan Bautista Church. According to the books, it was used to store and restore the Church’s furnishings. It was also used as a granary. The building belonged to the parish, as evidence by the Cross of St John on the main gate.

The Santa María del Águila Church shares a common feature with other Sevillian Mudejar-style parish churches from the 13th and 14th centuries.

This single-nave church is covered with a remarkable Mudejar-style frame from 1596. It is accessed through the entrance located on the right wall. The angled bell gable on the entrance dates back to 1760. It has a baroque decoration with a moulded frieze, pendants, polychrome blue tiles on white walls and bricks, crowned by a curved split pediment around the top and a wrought-iron cross.

This church is located in one of the most important areas in the city, at one end of the main square. The former school of San Teodomiro, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1619, faced this square.

The Jesuits came to Utrera and founded a convent with a school. The Rodrigo Caro School stands now on that site. All that remains is this church, known as St Francis the New, the sacristy and the meeting room.