A plant for the charisma of the order

The church -conventual and collegiate at the same time- is one of the most exceptional examples of all baroque architecture in Navarre. Its plan presents a large octagonal body surrounded in part by ambulatories interrupted by two low choirs and two other bodies added at the foot, above the last of which rises the choir loft; thus coexisting centrality and longitudinality with evident echoes of Roman and Venetian architecture. Its relationship with works of that origin and with the basilica of Loyola has already been made clear, but we cannot forget the regulations on "The elements of layout" in the houses of the Company of Mary printed in 1638. They recommend a square floor plan and the construction of two low choirs or tribunes - one for nuns and novices and the other for students - plus a high one at the foot of the cloister, which would serve as a link between the convent and high school and to which only the nuns would have access. Such plan obeys to the function of high school where apostolate, teaching and contemplation are combined.