Convento de Madre de Dios

The Convento de Madre de Dios, of the Dominican order, was founded in the early 16th century by the Duchess of Medina Sidonia, Leonor de Rivera y Mendoza. It is located in the historic centre of the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where it occupies a spacious block with façades looking onto the four surrounding streets. The architectural structure corresponds to habitual religious requirements, with a church, choir, sacristy, cloister, cells and a small garden.

The Condesa de Niebla, Leonor Manrique de Soto Mayor y Zúñiga, would be the one who, when she retired to the convent in and 1575 together with her granddaughter Leonor de Guzmán, would finish the convent in its definitive form. At this time the choir and the vault of the church were built, as well as a beautiful room for the personal use of the benefactors and where they would both live until their death. These years correspond to the times of splendour of the Convento de Madre de Dios.

The highlight of the exterior façade of the church is the two beautifully decorated Baroque windows, together with the main doorway from the 17th century. The prominent features of the interior are the splendid choir, made from ebony and cedar wood, and some interesting artistic pieces of a devotional character, such as the painting of La Virgin del Sudor which each year is carried in procession around the outside perimeter of the convent to commemorate the miracle made by this image in the 17th century, when it freed Sanlúcar from the plague epidemic.