Las Teresas Convent (San José Church)

Las Teresas convent is located in the former Condes de Palma palace, an extremely interesting Mudejar building erected during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The convent belongs to the Discalced Carmelite nuns, who are known in the town as “Las Teresas”.

It was founded in around 1630, when the Discalced Carmelites had to move to the site, which caused serious conflicts with the town’s governors who were accustomed to meeting in the palace. Works on the church were initiated in 1655 thanks to donations and Sister Paula de San José’s dowry.

The monumental portal belongs to the transition from Gothic to the Renaissance with light Manueline décor, as can be observed through maritime motifs. The façade’s decoration is uncommon to this area: the Palma counts “imported” it during the fourteenth century, mimicking the style that existed on palace houses in south Portugal, where they also owned land.

Some of the palace’s rooms are decorated with interesting fifteenth-century Mudejar yeseria. It is believed that they are works from the same masters who created the ones in the Royal Alcazar of Seville.

The church’s entrance door features an interesting piece of Mudejar carpentry from the second half of the fourteenth century, yet the conventual church was erected in the seventeenth century. It consists of one single nave with barrel vaults and lunettes and a hemispherical ceiling over the presbytery. The church houses Baroque retablos with several sculptures, the most remarkable being Saint Joseph and the Immaculate Conception from the Roldán studios, a Child Jesus figure by Ribas and an interesting Crucified Christ by the Alonso Cano circle.