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Mercedarios Descalzos del Corpus Christi Convent

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The Convent of the Barefoot Mercedarians of Corpus Christi with its Conventual Church was built between 1604 and 1617 by Diego Pérez Alcaraz to house a community of Mercedarian friars. 

However, all that remains are the cloister and staircase of the Convent and the Church. The choir and the bell gable were added later. Moreover, the main altarpiece, made in 1762 by Juan Cano, a Sevillian sculptor, is not the original one made with plasterwork.

The conventual church has a lintelled door, flanked by angled pilasters and an architrave, frieze and cornice. It transmits great elegance as required by the purist Baroque style prevalent when it was renovated (completed in 1776). 

The convent’s cloister has four fronts with six Doric pillars each, joined by semi-circular arches. The cloister’s galleries are covered with half-barrel vaults with lunettes, supported by barrel arches, except in the four corners (cistern arches). The ground floor is separated from the first floor by a continuous, overhanging frieze and an architrave decorated with drops. The upper level consists of alternating balconies and paintings. 

The conventual church has a single nave covered with a barrel vault with lunettes, and the presbytery has a lowered dome, which appears as a gabled roof outside. The chapel in the vestibule holds the titular image of the Confraternity of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene. The high chorus is at the west end of the nave.

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