Church of El Dulce Nombre de Jesús and Santa Misericordia

It is known from visitors' books that for a time it was used as a hospital, probably organised by a brotherhood, and previously, in the Muslim period, it was a mosque, due to its location in the highest areas of the town and its orientation towards Mecca. It was customary for churches to be built on top of ancient mosques. 

The present church dates from the 16th century and originally consisted of a single nave, later another one was built on the epistle side. It has an exposed brick façade, topped by an artistic belfry with a tiled rose window. Stylistically, its structure has a hall plan with presbytery raised on two steps (with some 18th century tiles). The chancel is framed by a large round arch in Renaissance style. Its fluted shape seems to allude to the grooves of a classical column. There are two chapels on the Epistle side, open to the main nave by means of two semicircular arches, one of which is walled up and incorporated into the santeria house. The interior ceilings are made of wooden beams, gabled in the central nave and a simple skirt of side chapels. 

The Mudejar-style doorway stands out. Very characteristic is the oculus, which is formed by bricks framed by blue, white and honey-coloured tiles. The belfry has a semicircular arch but with an alfiz (again a combination of the Renaissance avant-garde and the Moorish system) and is crowned with a mixtilinear pediment and a wrought iron weather vane. 

On the façade there is an image of the Virgin of Mercy, hence the name of the chapel. The current 18th century altarpiece was placed in the altar area; it is presided over by an Infant Jesus of the Sevillian School, as well as a painting of the Virgin of Mercy. 

Another of the singularities housed in this hermitage is the simpecado of the Virgen de Belén, an ancient brotherhood, now disappeared, founded exclusively by men. This beautiful simpecado is made of red velvet embroidered in silver. In recent years it has hosted the brotherhoods of San Benito and the Holy Entry into Jerusalem. The canonical seat of the Hermandad filial de San Benito Abad de Cantillana is located here, from where the pilgrimage to the hermitage of the Saint in Castilblanco de los Arroyos begins on the last weekend of August.