Mother of God Convent

Located in the outskirts, next to the old N-I; founded for family reasons by the Duke of Lerma, since the mother-in-law of his first-born, the Duke of Uceda, the Countess of Santa Gadea, Doña Luisa de Padilla y Acuña, entered as prioress of its foundation. The works began in 1608 with the personal intervention of the architect Francisco de Mora, although the definitive traces were used by Fray Alberto de la Madre de Dios. The convent is austere, classic, monotonous, with almost no decorative elements, as was the norm in the works of the Carmelite friar. The church has a simple Latin cross floor plan, with a choir at the foot, and a classicist altarpiece, with Corinthian style columns. It emphasizes the carving of Santa Teresa of the XVII century, and the Virgin of Carmen existing in the Church of the Monastery. The height and sobriety of the monastery walls are surprising. Inhabited until the end of 2016; the 8 Discalced Carmelite Mothers who remained in the Monastery moved to the town of Villanueva de la Jara (Cuenca) where they live in another monastery of the same Order.