Carmelite Monastery of St. Anne - Seville

The Monastery of Santa Ana belongs to the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance. The Carmelite nuns of the Old Observance, also known as Carmelitas Calzadas, arrived in Seville in 1594.

The church is from the 17th and 18th centuries , parallel to the street, with an unfinished facade with a striking tile of the saint.

There is a beautiful bell tower that is only visible from certain places, due to the narrowness of the adjacent streets.

In 1620, the masons Cristóbal Ramírez and Juan Mateos de Bonilla made the plans for the church. Their construction work was completed in January 1641. In February of that year, the locksmith Juan Martínez de Vilar made a grille for the choir. In 1643, the stonemason Manuel Pérez made the steps of the main altar, the side altars and the doors. The holy water font dates from the same period.

The church has a single nave covered by a barrel vault. The decoration includes a series of altarpieces:

Main Altarpiece . It was made in 1675 by the sculptor and retablist Fernando de Barahona (Seville, 1669-1709) and comes from the old monastery of the Encarnación de Belén, which no longer exists. It consists of two parts, three aisles, a bank and an attic, separated by Solomonic columns. In the middle niche is the image of the Virgin of Carmen and in the upper niche the group of Saint Anne and the Virgin, the work of Martínez Montañés (1627). In the first part and on the side are the figures representing Saint Joachim and Saint Joseph, while in the second part we can see the carvings of the prophets Elijah and Elisha .

Altarpiece dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The main sculpture is attributed to Martínez Montañés and was made around 1638.

Altarpiece of the Virgin of the Star. This sculpture is by an unknown artist and was made around 1600. It is flanked by the figures of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. Rococo style altarpiece dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, an anonymous work from the first half of the 17th century.

Willem Vandenameele