Monasterio Santa Paula

found a nun on the 2nd level (left)

So I'm a little behind on my blogging, but I will catch you up and what's been going on in España recently.  Wednesday's cultural visit was to the Santa Paula Monastery in Sevilla.  Monasteries are a popular place to get baked treats like cookies, magdalenas, little cakes and more (including the unblessed Eucharist bread I talked about in Granada), and are found throughout the city....just look for their marker: a crested bell tower (that is flat instead of cubed like a church).  Santa Paula is a monastery consisting of 36 nuns from all parts of the world.  It was founded in the 15th century...that's 600 years of women dedicating their lives to prayer.  The first nun and creater of this monastery was Doña Anna de Santillán, a widow whose daughter died at the age of 18.  After such tragedy, she wanted to devote her life to God and founded this monastery (her father was accompanied Fernando the 13th in re-conquering Sevilla, so they owned lots of property in the city).  It is also dedicated to the Jerónima nuns.  These nuns follow the teachings of San Jerónimo.  In addition to spreading christianity with his study of the Holy Scriptures, San Jerónimo founded countless monasteries, including several in Sevilla with the help of Santa Paula (another widow who had met the saint while in Jerusalem).  The most interesting part of this monastery was that it is the only one in Sevilla to have a museum within it's protective walls that is open to the public.  In general, nuns own a copious amount of religious art and sculptures.  I encountered the Spanish painter, Bartolomé Murillo, once again here.  (quick thing, as I was walking home from class I noticed in the plaza right by my house is a large statue of this beloved painter....I have realized that I really need to look up a lot more while I am walking because I am missing things even on my everyday route to class)  Anyways, Murillo has a style that is imitated by, he had many followers and usually it is hard for the untrained eye to tell the difference between his work and someone else's.  His style of Baroque was different from that of the standard dark, aggressive, and realistic images of his colleagues.  Murillo is commonly found in churches because he painted a lot of biblical scenes so that illiterate people could understand religion without having to read it.  Another painted I liked was by Diego Rivera with the technique of only painting the light, sometimes you don't even realize the details in the dark are there until they're pointed out.  A couple other art pieces we saw in the museum were many figures of baby Jesus in different depictions, a large detailed cloth stitched with gold string for Semana Santa (unbelievably heavy), and my favorite of all was the most detailed Nativity set I have ever seen (complete with the heavens and angels above).  Part of the museum was the old church, but we were able to look down into where mass is held these days.  Masses are open to the public, but all of the nuns have to stand in the back of the church behind this gate type thing.  Remember that nuns are never allowed to leave the monastery.  Everything from the outside world is brought in.  ...this is so intriguing to me.

detailed Nativity scene

      As I said, monasteries are known for their home-made baked goods.  Santa Paula Monastery is especially popular because of their praised marmalade (so well known that it is even for sale at Corte Ingles).  They had a large variety of different types for sale to the public (this money goes straight to the upkeep of their home) and I bought a jar!  I chose to get the orange marmalade made from Sevilla oranges.  I felt it was the most appropriate choice because I've been dying to see how they oranges on the street are changed to a delicious treat. I have to wait quite a while to try it since I'm not going to open it before coming home.  Speaking of the orange trees, they are in full blossom for spring!  The streets are so beautiful and smell fantastic with these white flowers (azahares) everywhere.  The last thing I did before leaving the monastery was try a taste of the bizcocho de frutas that our guide bought us.  It was delicious...kind of a cake/bread with fresh fruit chunks and no preservatives.