9 November 2010

Course

THE FEMALE CLOISTERS OF NAVARRA IN THE HISPANIC SPHERE.
Heritage, Art and Architecture

Cloisters of Seville. History and Heritage

D. Alfredo J. Morales Martínez.
University of Seville

The city of Seville possesses the greatest monumental, artistic and cultural heritage in the field of conventual cloisters in Spain. Outside the hustle and bustle of contemporary urban life, the cloisters are small islands of peace and tranquility. In spite of some specific publications and television programs, the cloistered monasteries of Seville continue to be one of the great secrets and most important hidden treasures of the city. The complex reality that is enclosed behind the walls of the cloisters remains unknown even to those who live in their vicinity and listen to the daily ringing of their bells. Only the sweet pastry products elaborated in many of them and acquired throughout the year through the lathes, or in a exhibition- sale in days before Christmas seem to be the only test of its existence. In fact, for a great majority this is the only relationship with the Sevillian cloistered convents. However, for those who are regulars of the conventual churches at the time of fulfilling the religious precepts and participating in the liturgical celebrations, the reality of the cloisters are the distant voices of the monks chanting prayers and the fleetingness of a set of blurred shadows behind the bars of the choirs. In any case, these are always fragmentary visions, almost intuitions about the Closed world of the conventual cloisters.

Of the thirty or so female convents that existed in Seville until the 19th century, only sixteen survive today, and it should be noted that one of the oldest, that of Santa Clara, has recently been lost, as its dwindling and aging community has had to join the convent of Santa María de Jesús of the same Franciscan order. The large female convents of the origins competed in proportions with the male houses of the same order. Some of them housed more than a hundred nuns and even more than two hundred professed nuns during the 16th century. Such a high issue contrasts with the twenty-one that by constitution had and are maintained in the convent of San José del Carmen, founded by Santa Teresa de Jesús. Faced with such numerous communities during the past centuries, at present there has been a drastic reduction of religious, being in a high issue of advanced age, which has resulted in the withdrawal of some conventual areas and in the progressive deterioration of the buildings due to lack of maintenance. Novices from different American and African countries have arrived to many convents, being exceptional the case of those coming from India. With them some enclosures have been revitalized, at the same time that have appeared features, ways and customs of other cultures. In spite of it the time continues marked by the prayer of the canonical hours and by a rich spiritual life that does not imply the ignorance of what happens beyond the conventual walls. Mobile telephony and the Internet have entered the cloisters.

Conventual architecture incorporates both the monumental and known for its condition of public space, as in the case of temples, and the more domestic, interiorized and less evident, which corresponds to the cloistered areas. It is in these small universes, which are articulated around courtyards, where the nuns spend their lives, in a retreat sought and enjoyed. The old foundations correspond to Gothic and Mudejar buildings, some are Renaissance and almost all of them were renovated at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The more modern ones are baroque and even historicist, being of note in almost all cases the quantity, variety and importance of its movable heritage, despite the confiscations, plundering and sales. To maintain and conserve such goods would be a difficult task to explain, if it were not for divine providence and the industriousness of communities aware of their responsibility. For this reason, for some time now, in addition to the prayer that is the focus of their contemplative lives, they have been working on various tasks. Some convents have embroidery or bookbinding workshops, dry cleaners or laundry and ironing services. In others they have opened inns and in many cases they make sweets recovering old recipes, to which sometimes they add contributions from other latitudes, result of those varied communities that have been generalized. Fortunately, they also count on the financial aid of benefactors and devotees who are aware of the needs of the daily life of the convents. Thanks to all this, the cloisters are still alive and kicking, although for their survival it will be necessary the arrival of new vocations. To achieve this, the nuns themselves are already raising their prayers, although the contributions and prayers of the whole Christian community would not be a bad thing either.