Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 10/07/2026 23:43:00

A seventeenth-century charitable hospital in Seville's Arenal quarter, founded in 1674 by Miguel de Manara, a reformed libertine whose conversion to pious austerity allegedly inspired the Don Juan legend. The hospital was established to provide care for the sick, the dying, and the destitute, and it continues to operate as a charitable institution today -- one of the oldest continuously functioning hospitals in Spain -- while its baroque church contains an extraordinary programme of paintings by Bartolome Esteban Murillo and Juan de Valdes Leal. Valdes Leal's two monumental paintings of the vanitas theme -- In Ictu Oculi (In the Blink of an Eye) and Finis Gloriae Mundi (The End of Worldly Glory) -- are among the most confrontationally morbid images in European art, depicting a skeleton trampling worldly symbols and a decomposing bishop in his coffin. Murillo's six canvases on the opposite walls present acts of mercy and charity in his characteristic warm palette, creating a deliberate contrast between the terror of death and the consolation of good works. The azulejo-tiled courtyard, with its central fountain and arcaded galleries, provides a transitional space between the street and the church interior, its ceramic panels depicting scenes of charity and biblical narrative in the blue-and-white palette typical of Sevillian tilework. The hospital rooms themselves are not open to tourists, as they continue to serve their original charitable function. Located on Calle Temprado behind the Maestranza bullring, the hospital is within a 5-minute walk of the cathedral, the Torre del Oro, and the riverside promenade. Opening hours for the church and courtyard are limited, and a modest admission charge supports the institution's ongoing charitable work. The combination of art and active charity creates an experience distinct from purely museum-based viewing.