Once you enter the visitor reception point we can directly access the church, which is a jewel of the Antequera Baroque in terms of its proportions and spatial conception. Its main altarpiece, attributed to Francisco Primo, is presided over by the sculpture of San José, work of the seventeenth century, with head of Andrés de Cavajal corresponding to the next century.
Through the sacristy, whose walls decorate two portraits of important ecclesiastical characters of the Indies and a magnificent Velazquez mirror, we access by a staircase to the different rooms located on the upper floor. In the first of the rooms, called the Tribune, the sculptures of a Bust of Dolorosa by Pedro de Mena, a San Miguel Arcángel by the Neapolitan Giuseppe Sarno and several images of the Child Jesus are exhibited, highlighting one of Andrés de Carvajal and another of the workshop of Martínez Montañés. From the peredes hang several canvases from the workshop of the Mannerist painter Antonio Mohedano, such as the Virgin of Silence, San Miguel and San Alberto de Sicilia.
The Next room, called Nicola Fumo, keeps two magnificent sculptures of the Immaculate and Saint Joseph made by this Neapolitan artist in 1705. Other important pieces are two canvases of the early eighteenth century of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Virgin of the Remedios by the Mexican painter Antonio de Torres. Among the pieces of silverware exhibited in a showcase are the Custody of the Foundress, made by the silversmith Antonio de Alcántara in 1654, and a silver reliquary framing an autograph Carta of Santa Teresa de Jesús, dated 1577.
Going out to the corridor we go to the Sala del Nacimiento, which receives this name for the so-called Bethlehem of the Barefoot, in which a scenography of the Antequera acropolis is developed chaired by the Alcazaba. The Mystery is the work of the Quito artist Manuel Caspicara and the rest of the figures are terracottas from Sevillian, Granada and Antequera workshops of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also exhibited in this room are the sculptures of the Child Jesus Pastorcito by the Murcian Francisco Salzillo and the Virgin of Bethlehem by the Sevillian Duke Cornejo.
We then move on to the Sala de Santa Teresa, presided over by the canvas by the Italian painter Luca Giordano depicting Santa Teresa as a writer. Other works of maximum interest are the Virgen de la Soledad , called the Priorísima, the work of the sculptor Antonio del Castillo from Antequera of 1692, and a Crucified of smaller size signed by the sculptor Diego Márquez in 1754. Also exposed is the primitive head of San José that presides over the main altarpiece of the church, severed by lightning in 1759.
We leave the Hall and walk through the upper gallery of the Cloister, along which we can contemplate several of the quitapesares or images of the Niñojesús, from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which are exposed in old wooden urns.
Contact:
Address: Plaza de las Descalzas, 3, Antequera, Málaga
Schedule: Tuesday to Friday: 10:00h –13:30h / 17:00h –19:30h Saturday: 09:00h to 12:30h / 17:00 h to 19:00h Sunday: 9:00h –12:30h
Phone: 606855792
Website: http://museoconventualantequera.com/