Convento de las Concepcionistas Franciscanas - Las Marroquíes

Ecija's cloistered convent of the Concepcionistas Franciscanas, popularly known as “Las Marroquíes”, took its name from the surname of its founders, sisters Luisa and Francisca Marroquí. Construction began in the late 16th century, and was completed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The convent conserves its monumental Baroque body, with the turnstile and rule door linked to the church by a corridor which houses the sacristy and changing room. The interior contains accommodation, a vegetable garden, the cloister and an infirmary. The exterior features a monumental doorway and a lookout tower built between the end of the 16th century and the end of the 18th-century.

Its angular belfry or bell tower, at the foot of the church, is of particular interest. The first stage is of brick, whilst the upper stage is decorated with tiles on white plaster, simulating two semi-detached belfries, with two bronze bells from the 18th-century. At the top an inscription dates the building to 1760.

The church follows the traditional pattern of a Seville convent, with a single box nave and flat front. The roof is made of wood and the lintelled entrance in the Mannerist style dates from the early 16th century.

The interior of the church offers some of the Baroque Ecija's finest decorative work. There are five altarpieces, the most interesting of which include the main altarpiece, with its Baroque and Rococo sculpture and architectural design, the altarpiece on the Gospel wall - dedicated to Santa Beatriz de Silva - and the altarpiece of the Santísima Trinidad, all dating from the. 18th-century.

The nuns were famous for their excellent cakes, including a delicacy known as “marroquíes” which melt in the mouth. Since the nuns left the convent, these have been made by the Dominican nuns at the Convent of Santa Florentina.