CONVENT OF THE URSULINES

The Convent of the Annunciation, popularly known as Las Úrsulas, is one of the most prominent monuments in Salamanca's heritage. It was founded in the late 15th century by Doña Sancha Maldonado, as a house for Ursuline nuns. The community grew rapidly, necessitating an expansion of the complex. This renovation was promoted by Alonso II de Fonseca, Archbishop of Santiago and nephew of the founder, who decided to transform the space to accommodate Franciscan nuns and, at the same time, establish his family pantheon there. Since then, the convent began housing nuns of the Third Order of Saint Francis, initiating a period of great artistic and architectural significance.

Documentation confirms that the female community was already present in Salamanca in 1471 and that work on the church was underway in 1486. Upon the promoter's death in 1512, the building was still not completed, so it was his son, Alonso III de Fonseca, Archbishop of Santiago and later of Toledo, who was responsible for finishing the construction, completing the choir's coffered ceiling, and commissioning the altarpiece from Juan de Borgoña and the sepulchre from Diego de Siloe. The latter also reformed the monastery's constitutions, restricting access solely to women belonging to the Fonseca, Acevedo, Ulloa, and Maldonado lineages, which made the convent a space practically closed to other families.

In April 2018, the last seven nuns living here were transferred to other monasteries, and the convent closed its doors after five centuries of history. The community never reached the projected maximum of fifty nuns. In 2019, thanks to the work of the Las Edades del Hombre Foundation, the convent opened its doors as a museum, allowing the public to admire works by artists such as Juan de Borgoña, Luis de Morales, and Diego de Siloé, the creator of Archbishop Fonseca's tomb. Currently, the convent remains closed, awaiting a new purpose.

The Monastery of the Úrsulas is one of the most outstanding examples of Salamanca's religious architecture from the transition between the 15th and 16th centuries. It harmoniously combines late Gothic, early Renaissance, and Mudejar elements, constituting an exceptional testimony to the patronage of the Fonseca family, one of the most influential families in Renaissance Salamanca.

The church's design responds to its dual function as a monastic temple and a funerary space. It features a single nave, without side chapels, and a double choir—upper and lower—located at the foot, reserved for the religious community.

From the exterior, a staggered volume can be seen, ascending from the conventual dependencies to the chancel, which rises like a medieval keep dominating the surroundings. The main chapel, with a polygonal plan, was conceived as an autonomous space intended to house the founder's freestanding sepulchre. Its high walls are supported by slender buttresses crowned by pinnacles, among which runs a delicate late Gothic cresting. Gargoyles with fantastic animals, finials, and the coats of arms of Fonseca, Acevedo, Ulloa, and Maldonado complete the apse's decoration, underscoring the noble character of the patronage.

The south facade features three doors: two twin doors providing access to the church and a third, simpler one, connecting with the convent. The twin Baroque doors were made in the 18th century by Jerónimo García de Quiñones. The first displays the Fonseca coat of arms with the Patriarchal Cross; the second, that of the Count of Monterrey, Viceroy of Naples. The metopes and cartouches incorporate Marian and Franciscan iconography, such as the Five Wounds. The more austere conventual door is crowned by a delicate Gothic sculpture of an angel holding the archbishop's coat of arms.

Inside, the main chapel is the most monumental space of the complex. Conceived as a family pantheon, it houses the sepulchre of Alonso II de Fonseca in the center. It is organized into a straight section and a deep octagonal bay, with open lucillos (arched niches for tombs) in the walls that probably functioned as burial places. It is covered by a star-ribbed vault with combados (curved ribs), whose main boss displays the Fonseca coat of arms. In the octagonal panels, large coats of arms with the founder's four surnames: Acevedo, Fonseca, Ulloa, and Maldonado, stand out.

The main altarpiece, in Baroque style and featuring the relief of the Annunciation, is the work of Miguel Martínez, a disciple of Andrés García de Quiñones. It replaced the original Renaissance altarpiece commissioned by Fonseca III from Juan de Borgoña, several panels of which are preserved in the museum.

The Sepulchre of Archbishop Alonso de Fonseca (1529), located in the center of the chancel, was executed by Diego de Siloe. Tallado en mármol de Macael, se decora con medallones que representan La Anunciación y a Santiago en la batalla de Clavijo, además de evangelistas, niños con escudos y leones alados. Un zócalo con querubines sostiene la figura yacente del arzobispo. En la nave se encuentra también el sepulcro de Francisco de Ribas, mayordomo del patriarca.

The nave, corresponding to a later construction phase, features rib vaults and bundled pilasters that ascend uninterrupted to the vaults, in a style close to that of Juan de Álava. In the center, two engaged pilasters decorated with grotesques—dolphins, dragons, human figures, and vegetal motifs—are preserved, close to the ornamental repertoire of the University and the Fonseca College.

The lower choir is covered with two magnificent polychrome coffered ceilings that combine Mudejar and Renaissance elements, where the panels by Juan de Borgoña that were part of the church's original altarpiece are exhibited, disassembled.

The convent has two cloisters, the most notable being the Cloister of the Flowers. The current one corresponds to the renovation carried out around 1790 by Jerónimo García de Quiñones, in which the parapets with Gothic tracery from the primitive cloister were reused. The Chapel of the Divine Shepherdess, with a Hispano-Flemish stained glass window depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Chapter House, whose doorway is framed with ogee arches crowned by the Fonseca coats of arms, open onto this space.