Gardens of the Mercy in Cordoba, Spain
Gardens of the Mercy
The Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square) keeps the Gardens of the Mercy, an oasis
inside the rush of the city centre. It is an island sorrounded by a lot of new buildings, contrasted with the Malmuerta Tower and the Convent of Mercy, today it is the Provincial Diputation of Córdoba.
The general sight is difficult to appreciate due to the high trees. A cordovan historian told that the trees are fed with the below ashes of the roman patricians, because this place was suposed to be a roman cemetery. Very close there is the Osario Street, whose origin is roman.
In the middle of the square there is a Fountain made by Carlos Saenz de Santamaría in 1905. On a big pillar there is a big pool, decorated with volutes and different see animals. This fountain shows a newromanic taste very characteristic. A dozen of banks sorround the square .this wants to remind that it was a bullring till 1831.
But without any doubt the façade of the Mercy Convent is one of the most impressive thing to
admire. It was built by Ferdinand III the Saint after 1236. The Saint Monarch ordered to build four convents: Convent of Saint Paul, Saint Peter the Royal, today Church of Saint Francis and Saint Eulolius, the Convent of the Trinitarians and The Mercy. The primitive convent, is not conserved, it was believed to be founded on the ancient Saint Eulalia Hermitage. It was said that the same Saint Peter Nolasco, the founder of the order, assisted to this act of inauguration.
The convent was badly conserved, so the commanders Fray Lorenzo Ramírez and Fray Pedro de Anguita decided to sponsor the restoration works as sooner as possible. The works began in 1716 and ended in 1745. After a strong eviction run by Mendizábal the convent was taken by the Charity Board, then it was a poor house run by the Saint
Vincent de Paul nuns and finally the Provintial Diputation of Córdoba.
The historian assigned the works to many authors: Hurtado Izquierdo, but as Don Miguel Orti Belmonte said, he died in 1713, shortly before the start of construction, or Juan Aguilar, who was working on the Collegiate of Saint Hippolyte.
The façade was decorated with fresco works,it has different shouldered arches in two storeys,separated by painted pillars. The door of the convent has a shield of the Merced order and a niche
decorated with the image of Saint Peter Nolasco. The façade of the church breaks with the horizontality of the complex, presenting a central entrancecarried out in white marble of churrigueresque style, where four solomonic columns on wainscot flank the shouldered arch, decorated with the sheld of the mercenary order. In the second part the columns are smaller, and between the volutes of the split up pediment, there is the sculpture of the Virgin of Mercy. The last storey is ended by a triangular pediment crowned with Saint Raphael Archangel sculpture. On both sides there are two tower bells with two bells each one.
The church is situated in the middle of the complex and it divides it between two courts. It has Latin cross and it is framed into a rectangle, it has a plain apse, three naves and a transept. The central nave is
covered by a barral vault with lunettes, and the arms of the transept are covered with halfspheres. The ceiling is decorated with polichromed madallions, where some half busts of saints and the mercenary order framed by rich gypsum.
The main cloister was the last to complete, completed in 1752. It has a large choir with roman arch on toscani columns and a second one closed by decorated with board pillars and the balconies in the middle. In the middle of the court there is a great black marble fountain. All the complex very decorated.
inside the rush of the city centre. It is an island sorrounded by a lot of new buildings, contrasted with the Malmuerta Tower and the Convent of Mercy, today it is the Provincial Diputation of Córdoba.
The general sight is difficult to appreciate due to the high trees. A cordovan historian told that the trees are fed with the below ashes of the roman patricians, because this place was suposed to be a roman cemetery. Very close there is the Osario Street, whose origin is roman.
In the middle of the square there is a Fountain made by Carlos Saenz de Santamaría in 1905. On a big pillar there is a big pool, decorated with volutes and different see animals. This fountain shows a newromanic taste very characteristic. A dozen of banks sorround the square .this wants to remind that it was a bullring till 1831.
But without any doubt the façade of the Mercy Convent is one of the most impressive thing to
admire. It was built by Ferdinand III the Saint after 1236. The Saint Monarch ordered to build four convents: Convent of Saint Paul, Saint Peter the Royal, today Church of Saint Francis and Saint Eulolius, the Convent of the Trinitarians and The Mercy. The primitive convent, is not conserved, it was believed to be founded on the ancient Saint Eulalia Hermitage. It was said that the same Saint Peter Nolasco, the founder of the order, assisted to this act of inauguration.
The convent was badly conserved, so the commanders Fray Lorenzo Ramírez and Fray Pedro de Anguita decided to sponsor the restoration works as sooner as possible. The works began in 1716 and ended in 1745. After a strong eviction run by Mendizábal the convent was taken by the Charity Board, then it was a poor house run by the Saint
Vincent de Paul nuns and finally the Provintial Diputation of Córdoba. The historian assigned the works to many authors: Hurtado Izquierdo, but as Don Miguel Orti Belmonte said, he died in 1713, shortly before the start of construction, or Juan Aguilar, who was working on the Collegiate of Saint Hippolyte.
The façade was decorated with fresco works,it has different shouldered arches in two storeys,separated by painted pillars. The door of the convent has a shield of the Merced order and a niche
decorated with the image of Saint Peter Nolasco. The façade of the church breaks with the horizontality of the complex, presenting a central entrancecarried out in white marble of churrigueresque style, where four solomonic columns on wainscot flank the shouldered arch, decorated with the sheld of the mercenary order. In the second part the columns are smaller, and between the volutes of the split up pediment, there is the sculpture of the Virgin of Mercy. The last storey is ended by a triangular pediment crowned with Saint Raphael Archangel sculpture. On both sides there are two tower bells with two bells each one.
The church is situated in the middle of the complex and it divides it between two courts. It has Latin cross and it is framed into a rectangle, it has a plain apse, three naves and a transept. The central nave is
covered by a barral vault with lunettes, and the arms of the transept are covered with halfspheres. The ceiling is decorated with polichromed madallions, where some half busts of saints and the mercenary order framed by rich gypsum.
The main cloister was the last to complete, completed in 1752. It has a large choir with roman arch on toscani columns and a second one closed by decorated with board pillars and the balconies in the middle. In the middle of the court there is a great black marble fountain. All the complex very decorated.
Text: J.A.S.C.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba