Convento de Jesús y María

Founded in 1551, the Convent of Jesús y María de las Monjas Mínimas de Francisco de Paula, in Archidona, has a façade with three sections and a distribution of niches and spaces in the Mannerist style. These features relate this church with the Mudéjar and Islamic tradition of this street, a suburb of the Moorish city.

The red colour of the imposing 18th century tower contrasts with the grey stone of the façade. The façade and the tower of the convent were the work of Francisco de Astorga and they include construction elements which also appear in the Plaza Ochavada.

Regarding the church, they started out using the old chapel of Jesús y María before they started to start to build it. The current church, from the 17th-18th centuries, has a single nave, covered with a quadrant vault with lunettes, alternating with three-lobed rib arches and a semi-spherical vault crowned with an octagonal skylight.

The Main Altarpiece is carved, with a very geometric structure, comprising two sections and three panels. At the first level, images of monks of the Order of Los Mínimos, in the centre a monstrance, culminating in the winged figure of San Miguel. At the second level. two paintings at the sides, and an attic crowned with a crucifix. It all has a bone-coloured background with plant mouldings with vegetable-toned mouldings.

The left wall features an altar dedicated to the “Virgen del Fuelle”. It is an image of a Renaissance style Flemish sculpture, a 16th century relief of carved wood made over bellows of 35 cm. According to legend, which can be read on the corbel which borders the altar, it was rescued by Don Pedro Clavero de León “ from the hands of the infidels in Flanders”.

The structure of the interior of the convent is a spacious and welcoming, arranged around an interior courtyard. There are a number of different rooms located in the lower area and communicating with the courtyard.