Convento de las Clarisas de Santa Cruz, Renaissance convent in Santander, Spain

The Convento de las Clarisas de Santa Cruz is a convent complex in Santander's Cabildo de Arriba, built between 1641 and 1656 to a design by fray Lorenzo de Jorganes. It comprises a church, a cloister and living quarters. The church has a single nave covered by a barrel vault, a polygonal apse and a hemispherical dome on pendentives. Its main door on Calle Alta, topped by a split semicircular pediment, is now walled up.

Built between 1641 and 1656 to a design by fray Lorenzo de Jorganes, the convent was endowed by María de Oquendo, an Orio-born widow of a Santander shipowner, with 50,000 ducats of annual income from Seville taxes and 50,000 more from loading rights at Suances. Clares lived here for about 180 years until the bishop expelled them in 1835 to install the tobacco factory, which operated until production moved to Entrambasaguas in 2002.

The name Santa Cruz refers to the Holy Cross, and the convent belonged to the Clarist nuns of the Colettine reform, who lived here for about 180 years. The main door on Calle Alta, now walled up, is crowned by a split semicircular pediment. The building is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural since 1982 and appears on the Red List of Endangered Heritage.

The building is currently empty and not open to the public. The best exterior views are from Calle Alta, where the main facade and its Renaissance details can be seen from the street.

The founder Maria de Oquendo was so wealthy that she financed the convent using revenue from taxes in Seville and port rights in Suances. This unusual funding source allowed the convent to remain independent and prosperous.