Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Calasparra

Convento de la Merced, Calasparra

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Calasparra The Convento de la Merced was founded in the early years of the 17th century, at a time when the municipality of Calasparra was in the grip of an outbreak of religious fervour.

The Comendador of the Order of San Juan who was in charge of Calasparra at the time was Diego de Toledo, ( see Calasparra history for the order of San Juan)and he gave a licence for the foundation of a monastery by the bare-footed monks of the order of Nuestra Señora de la Merced on 8th February 1625. The order built their monastery on the site of the Ermita de la Concepción, one of the many small churches which had been built in the town over the previous century.

The monastery was in operation until 1812, when the Peninsular war, or War of Independence brought disaster to the town. This war was fought between the French , against the combined forces of Spain, Portugal and Britain, for control of Spain, and on the 1st October 1812 the French invaders pillaged and burnt the Convento, as well as several other buildings within Calasparra. The fortunes of the monastery never recovered and it was eventually sold in 1849 to Joaquín Miñano Pay. At that time the stated vale was 100,190 reales, but the sale price was 215,100, indicating that it was a large and impressive building.

The building was used as a storage unit for esparto grass for many years, before it was finally re-opened for worship in 1959, undergoing a final restoration in 2006.

At the height of the monastery’s wealth the church would have contained important sculptural works, but nowadays there is no remnant of the ornamentation of its former glory and the pieces within the building are all modern.
The church has now been fully restored and returned to functional use.