Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy - Seville

After the plague epidemic of 1649, a wrought iron cross was erected near the current chapel to honor the many deceased buried there. The devotion to the Holy Cross was so great that years later the brotherhood was founded that is today known as the Antigua y Fervorosa Hermandad de la Santa Cruz y Cofradía de Nazarenos del Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia y Nuestra Señora de la Piedad, Patriarca Bendito Señor San José, y María Santísima de la Caridad en su Soledad, popularly known as "El Baratillo", the name by which this part of the Arenal district was formerly known.

The facade is narrow, with a split pediment above the lintel, in the center of which is a modern stained glass window depicting the Pietà, donated by the Austrian Pavilion after Expo'92.

The interior of the chapel is small, in the shape of a Latin cross, but with one nave.

The main altarpiece is dominated by the statue group of La Piedad, the Virgin is the work of José Manuel Rodríguez Fernández-Andes, (1945-1950), and the Cristo de la Misericordia, by Luis Ortega Bru (1950), in the Letter Arm of the transept we find the altarpiece of María Santísima de la Caridad en su Soledad, a wood carving from 1931 by José Manuel Rodríguez Fernández-Andes.

Willem Vandenameele