Monastery of San Leandro of Seville, Catholic monastery in Old Town, Seville, Spain.
The Monastery of San Leandro is a religious complex in the old quarter of Seville, enclosed on all sides with three exterior walls visible from the street. The interior is organized around a cloister with a central fountain, and covered walkways connect the church, living quarters, and other rooms.
The monastery was founded in 1369 by the Augustinian Hermits, who later undertook a major rebuilding of the site toward the end of the 1500s. The church was consecrated in 1614, marking the end of the main construction work on the complex.
The monastery takes its name from Leander, a bishop of Seville who shaped the city's religious life in the 6th century. Inside the church, visitors can see decorated altars and religious paintings that reflect centuries of devotion by the Augustinian community.
The monastery is an active convent, so access to the public is limited and varies by day and time. Visiting on weekday mornings tends to give the best chance of being able to enter the church or the areas open to visitors.
The nuns of the convent have made traditional sweets by hand for centuries using old recipes, and these are still sold today through a small rotating wooden hatch set into the outer wall. This kind of hatch, called a torno, was the traditional way for cloistered nuns to pass goods to the outside world without direct contact.
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