On the slopes of Sierra MorenaHidden behind thick vegetation that makes it go unnoticed, stands a monastic complex unknown to many Cordovan people: the Monastery of the Visit to Notre-Damewhere the cloistered nuns of the Salesas reside, an order founded by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jeanne Francisca Frémyot de Chantal in 1610 in Annecy (Savoie, France). One of the characteristics of the congregation, from its foundation to the present day, is that it accepts women in poor health or of mature age into monastic life.
The imposing building, included in the National Plan for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage of the 20th Century, was built by architect Rafael de la Hoz-Arderius in 1962 and is located near the Santo Domingo highway. It consists of a church and cloister cloistered, which includes the chapel, the sacristy, around forty bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, classrooms, a parlor, a concierge and a library.
The structure of the monastery, located in a good conditionis made of concrete, with exposed bricks on the ground floor and painted white upstairs and in the church.
Regarding the physiognomy of the complex, according to the architect Francisco Daroca, it is distinguished by a “refined compass formalized by the orthogonality in the angle of the facades of the church and the cloister. The facade of the church “is signified hierarchically in relation to the convent, more austere and in accordance with the feeling of humility and simplicity of its inhabitants.”
Temple and closure They also differ in that the second one volumetrically fits the upper floor of the two planned; while the church, for its part, starts from the ground up to the roof.
A geometric cloisterof Cordovan proportion, allows, according to Daroca, the visual connection between the patio and the Sierra (on the ground floor); Upstairs, “a bay in the north wing is removed to create a sunny terrace to the south in winter”.
This building of great architectural simplicity and the spatial wealth celebrates masses on weekdays, Saturdays and the eves of public holidays, at 8:30 a.m.; Sundays and public holidays, at 1:00 p.m.
