Convents & Monasteries

Seville is a city rich with convents and monasteries. Groups of nuns scuttle down the streets going around their daily business and school girls, dressed in smart plaid skirts and shirts walk in single file throughout the city. Although there is restricted entry to many of the convents, most are inhabited by closed religious orders.

This large, walled complex of honey-coloured stone buildings, situated on the Isla la Cartuja (named after the monastery itself; the word means “charterhouse”), has seen many ups and downs during its long, dramatic history. From monks who welcomed Christopher Columbus, to barracks for Napoleon’s troops, ceramic factory run by an Englishman producing world-renowned porcelain, to modern-day contemporary art gallery and open-air live music venue.

La Soledad hermitage on Calle Jesús de la Pasión was first erected in the early 1500s as a church for the neighbouring Hospital de la Misericordia, which was founded in 1516. From 1854 the hermitage was used as a school and a hospital.