Real Parroquia de Santa María Magdalena

After the Gothic-Mudejar church of Santa María Magdalena was destroyed during the French invasion, located in the square which now bears its name, in Seville, the parish moved to the historic temple of the former Dominican convent of San Pablo el Real in the 1840s. It had been the first seat of the Inquisition and a memorial stone in the façade reminds us that Brother Bartolomé de las Casas was consecrated here as Bishop of Chiapas in 1544.

The oldest architectural remains, from medieval times, are concentrated in the apse and the chapel of El Dulce Nombre de Jesús, which preserves three incredible latticed vaults on squinches. The rest corresponds to a reconstruction undertaken by Leonardo de Figueroa between 1691 and 1709, in the most jubilant Baroque style.

The artistic treasures in the interior of the Real Parroquia de Santa María Magdalena are impressively rich and of a high aesthetic standard. The spectacular cycle of mural paintings, which constitute an exaltation of the Dominican Order and the Apostolic School as pillars of the church, are the work of Lucas Valdés and Clemente de Torres. The main altarpiece, assembled during the first third of the 18th century and in whose sculpture Pedro Duque Cornejo most probably took part, should be considered the second largest in the city, only exceeded by that of the Cathedral of Seville. Other lateral altarpieces are home to sculptures by Roque de Balduque (Virgen del Amparo), Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder ((Virgen de las Fiebres), Jerónimo Hernández (Resucitado and Niño Jesús), Gaspar de Águila (Nazareno de las Fatigas), Juan Martínez Montañés (San José con el Niño), Juan de Mesa (Asunción), Francisco de Ocampo (Cristo del Calvario), Pedro Roldán (Virgen de la Antigua and Siete Dolores and el Cristo y Misterio del Descendimiento) and Juan de Astorga (Virgen de la Presentación).

The art collection does not lag behind, featuring by two masterpieces by Zurbarán (Santo Domingo en Soriano and La Curación milagrosa del beato Reginaldo de Orleans), which are exhibited in the sacramental chapel, as well as several paintings by Valdés Leal, in the chapel of Dulce Nombre de Jesús.