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Seville’s Fine Arts Museum is considered the second most important art gallery in Spain, after the Prado in Madrid. This tour gives you a chance to discover its impressive collection of paintings and then to see the Macarena Basilica and museum, where La Macarena, Andalusia’s most celebrated image of the Virgin Mary, can be admired.
The Merced Calzada Convent was restored to house the Museo de Bellas Artes, one of the most interesting art galleries in Spain. The convent, completed in 1612, is the work of architect Juan de Oviedo and is arranged around three lavish courtyards, filled with flowers, trees and wall tile decoration. It contains an impressive collection of Spanish art, with many paintings by the great artists of the Sevillian Baroque school, such as Esteban Murillo, Juan de Valdés Leal and Francisco de Zurbarán.
The Macarena Basilica was built by the Macarena Brotherhood, founded in 1595 at Seville's San Basilio convent as a hospital order to care for the sick, provide charity to its members and for penitence. Outstanding features of the building include the mid 17th century sculpture of Christ Cristo de la Sentencia by Felipe de Morales Nieto and the image of the Virgin of the Macarena, made between the 17th and 18th centuries and attributed to La Roldana (daughter of the sculptor Pedro Roldán). The statue is famous for the beautiful expression on her face, a mixture of joy and sorrow. The museum contains exhibits relating to her attire, such as mantles and tunics, and other objects belonging to this brotherhood, which is one of the richest in Seville. |
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