Description of the attraction
Not far from the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza arena, practically on the banks of the Guadalquivir River in Seville, there is the building of the de la Caridad charity hospital, or the Hospital of Mercy. The founder of the hospital was Don Miguel Manyara, who, after the death of his young wife, decided to create a hospital in this place.
Hospital de la Caridad was built on the ruins of an old chapel in 1662. The author of the project was the architect Bernardo Simon de Pineda, he was also the creator of many sculptures and other decorative elements in the facade and interior decoration of the building. The facade of the hospital church is made mainly in the Baroque style and is visually divided horizontally into three parts. The two upper parts are decorated with tiles depicting Saints James and George, as well as virtues - Faith, Hope and Love. In the third, lower part of the facade, there is an entrance; here, on both sides of the door, there are sculptural images of San Fernando and San Ermenejildo.
The main work on the decoration of the hospital church was carried out by the outstanding Sevillian artists Bartolomé Murillo and Valdes Leal, in particular, Leal painted the dome of the church and lunettes on the sides of the altar, he also took part in the creation and decoration of the altar. Work on the creation of the altar of the church was completed in 1674, in the center of it there is a sculptural composition "Lamentation of Christ", created by Pedro Roldan. The walls of the church are adorned with magnificent paintings by the artists Murillo and Bernardo Simon de Pineda.
