Convento de la Purísima Concepción

The Convent of La Concepción de Carmelitas Calzadas, located opposite the Church of Santiago el Mayor in the monumental centre of Utrera, was founded in 1577 by Don Francisco Álvarez de Bohórquez and his wife Doña Catalina de Coria. The first profession took place the following year, and the convent was inaugurated in 1580. The church is Mudejar, with a single nave, covered by a wooden coffered ceiling with Mudejar lacework throughout, with no differentiation between the presbytery. At the foot of the nave there is a choir loft enclosed by the same coffered ceiling, while the rectangular lower choir is covered with a barrel vault with lunettes and sash arches with plasterwork, dating from the 17th century. Behind the main altarpiece is the sacristy and above it is the sacristan's dwelling, covered by a low ceiling. The two exterior doorways, with semicircular arches, pilasters, triangular pediment and pyramid-shaped finials, have been restored, but their composition corresponds to that which they had in the founding period. At the foot of the nave there is a brick belfry. These doorways must have been built in the 19th century, while the rest of the church dates from the last quarter of the 16th century.