Convento de San Leandro, Seville

The Convento de San Leandro is the Augustinian convent occupying the setting beside San Ildefonso Church. Its beginnings reach back to a community already documented around 1260, and its early history includes three changes of location before Pedro I granted the nuns the houses they occupy today in 1369. The community makes Yemas de San Leandro, a convent sweet prepared from the original recipe since the sixteenth century.

Through the entrance, a small compás leads towards the cloister, whose arcades rest on marble columns and whose walls carry patterned ceramic tiles. A polygonal fountain with a basin forms the focal feature of the patio. The church belongs to the late sixteenth century, with a barrel vault over the nave and a dome above the presbytery.

Its major altarpiece was commissioned from Pedro Duque Cornejo and his workshop in the eighteenth century; the sculptural programme includes Saint Leander, Saint Teresa, Saint Barbara and a vision of Saint Augustine. The church also preserves a retable contracted with Juan Martínez Montañés in 1621, an image of Saint Augustine made by Francisco Dionisio de Ribas in 1651, and an ornate screen dated 1729. The convent is recognised as a cultural-interest property.