Sacromonte Abbey

It was founded in the XVII Century. The building consists of three parts: the abbey, the seminar and the collegiate church. Under the church, we can find the catacombs, where St Cecilio, first bishop and today the Patron Saint of the city of Granada, suffered his martyrdom. The church has a Latin Cross Plan, three naves and a transept. The central nave is covered by barrel vaults and the side naves are less high and are opened to the central one by means of round arches and have cross vaults.

The choir of the central nave is in Late Baroque style, comes from 1615- 1617, and was carried out by Francisco Díaz de Rivero. In the Major Chapel, we should highlight the altarpiece which dominates its whole eaves board. It is adapted to the circular shape of the eaves board and was attributed to Blas Moreno (1743). It only has one body and three bays that are separated by tapered pilasters- a very characteristic element of altarpieces from the XVIII Century. In the right nave the Virgen del Sacromonte or Virgen de las Cuevas (Virgin of the Sacromonte or Virgin of the Caves) is venerated.

In front of the altar we find the Cristo del Consuelo or Cristo de los Gitanos (Christ of the Solace or Christ of the Gypsies), sculpted by José Risueño in 1695, ordered by the Chapter. On the left of the Major Altar we find the Sacristy, with rectangular floor, in which a table for chalices with inlays of marble and its chest of drawers should be highlighted. The Museum has in its art gallery works of artists such as Sánchez Cotán, Pedro de Raxis, Herrera el Viejo, Lucas Jordán, Juan de Sevilla and Goya.

There are also a great variety of images of authors as known as Duque Cornejo, Alonso de Mena, Ruiz del Peral or Risueño.

Interesting resources

   Guided Tours of Granada