RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS AND THE MUSEUM OF NAVARRE
THE BASILICA OF SAN IGNACIO. This temple was erected at the spot where, according to tradition, Saint Ignacio was wounded and fell whilst defending the castle of Pamplona in 1521. To commemorate this deed, in 1950 a monument was erected, a copy of the one to be found at the Sanctuary of Loyola (1). Work on the basilica (2) commenced in 1669, based on a design sent from Seville, and was not concluded until 1694. In the building’s interior, the dome is covered with an ornate decoration of fine ornamental plasterwork and in the chancel there is a baroque altarpiece dating back to the first half of the 18th century.
In 1767, after the Jesuits were expelled from Spain, the basilica was annexed to the parish of San Nicolás and, in 1892 it was transferred to the Redentorista religious order. In 1927, after the construction of the new church of San Ignacio, the nave of the former basilica was partially demolished, so that the spot where the saint is said to have fallen was left on the open street. The spot is now marked with a commemorative stone.
If you go along the street Cortes de Navarra, you will come to the street Cuesta de Labrit, where the street of San Agustin ends. Here you will find the Basilica of San Martin (3), a small baroque building with an eighteenth century portal designed by Pedro de Aizpun. You can see an ostensory, the emblem of the brotherhood of the Holy Sacrament that occupies the chapel, and on either side, an escutcheon with the Five Wounds. In the same street, the parish church of San Agustin (4) stands on the site of the former convent of the Augustinians or Agustinos, founded by Carlos II of Navarre in 1355. The building bears all the characteristics of a sixteenth century convent, which is the period when it was constructed. However, the façade was erected between 1887 and 1900, based on the drawings of the diocesan architect, Florencio Ansoleaga. The interior houses some baroque altarpieces, amongst which the most notable is that of San José and the Guardian Angel, brought from the former Carmen Calzado convent.
In the church of San Agustin, on Easter Thursday the religious act to commemorate the Vow of the Five Wounds made by the city of Pamplona takes place. During the virulent epidemic of the plague that the city suffered in 1599, the bishop received a revelation in which he was promised that the healthy would not fall sick and that the people affected by the plague would be cured if they all wore a seal with the representation of the Five Wounds of Christ. Given the effectiveness of the measure and to show their gratitude, the City Government decided to perpetually celebrate this event called “the vow of the Five Wounds”.
The street named calle Compañía, running parallel to the Calle Agustin, received its name due to the fact that it was location of the first house that the Compañía de Jesús had in Pamplona. This was inaugurated at the end of the 16th century. The Jesuits then went on to open the school Colegio de la Anunciata and alongside it, at the beginning of the seventeenth century they erected the church of Jesús y María (5). After the expulsion of the Order this became the chapel of the seminary, as can be seen by the inscription on its façade. In 1927 the church was given back to the Jesuits however, in 1951, when the Order constructed the new school, the parish of San Juan Bautista was transferred to it from the Navarrería. Today the building is occupied by the Official Language School of Navarre, which opened its doors in 1978. The former school quadrangle can be found in the building’s interior.
If you go down the Calle Compañía until you reach the Calle Curia, then down the traditional Calle de la Mañueta you will come to the market of Santo Domingo (6), the oldest market in the city. It was constructed in 1876 in the same place as the old market which was destroyed by a fire. In the street of Santo Domingo you will find the old Seminary of San Juan (7), constructed in 1734 thanks to the donations of a nobleman from the Baztan valley, Juan Bautista Iturralde. The building is typical of the baroque architecture to be found in the southern part of Navarre, with an open gallery on the top floor. The same construction can be found in the Episcopal Palace in Pamplona, erected during the same period.
The building conserves a late 19th century neogothic chapel which houses the Pablo Sarasate Museum, exhibiting some of the artist’s personal items, a bust of the artist made by Mariano Benlliure, the violins and piano used by the musician, amongst other things.
Slightly further ahead, in the same street, the convent of Santo Domingo (8) is located. All this area located behind the Town Hall was known as “el Barranco” or the gully and it was not urbanised until the 16th century. Until then, it was used to channel the waters that flowed down the current street of La Mañueta to the river Arga. In the sixteenth century the Dominican monks decided to settle there, after being moved from their former location at one end of the Plaza del Castillo so that the castle commissioned by Fernando the Catholic could be erected there. The primitive convent was dedicated to St James (Santiago) since there was a hermitage dedicated to the apostle within its premises. For this reason, in the portal of the current building, it is still possible to observe the image of the saint dressed as a pilgrim together with two other Dominican saints, Santo Tomás de Aquino and San Vicente Ferrer.
Work on the church commenced in 1529 and was concluded in 1543. At the end of the seventeenth century, the cloister was erected, which today is part of the Department of Education and Culture. The convent played an important role in the history of education in Navarre, since it housed the Universidad Pontificia y Real de Santiago (Royal Pontifical University of St James), founded on 26th April 1630 in the reign of Felipe IV. Canonically set up by Pope Urbano VIIII, the Arts, Theology, Medicine and Law were taught there. The convent suffered various temporary secularisations until it was finally secularised in 1836 when its facilities were made over to the Infantry barracks and Military Hospital. Today it is the seat of the Regional Ministry for Education and Culture of the Government of Navarre and only the church is still used as a place of worship.
The church of Santiago has all the architectural features that are characteristic of a church of the Dominican order: an ample nave with communicating chapels between the buttresses, a jutting out transept and a pentagonal chevet between two square chapels. The façade was constructed at a later date, in the second half of the eighteenth century. In the church interior, in addition to an interesting display of baroque altarpieces, we would highlight the reredos which is the work of Pierres Picart and Juan de Beauves, the rococo chapel of San Vicente, opposite the entrance, the relief of the Sagrada Parentela (Holy Relations), dated to 1560, in the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Nieva and the mid-eighteenth century organ.
THE NAVARRE MUSEUM (9). After Navarre was annexed to Castile, the new monarchs were not only concerned with renewing the city’s defences but also took charge of providing the city with the necessary institutions. These include the Hospital of Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, (Our Lady of Compassion) which was installed next to the Rochapea gateway before 1547. For its maintenance, it was given the monopoly of selling playing cards and it was also allowed to print books. From 1757 onwards, classes in medicine and anatomy were also given here. The hospital operated as such until 1925 and, from 1956 onwards it became the seat of the Museum of Navarre. In 1932 the charity hospital came under the Navarre Health Service and was transferred to the area known as the “Soto de Barañain” where it is still located.
The original building still conserves the portal that was erected in 1556 and is the work of Juan de Villarreal, and the old chapel, constructed in 1547 by the stonemason Juan de Anchieta. The chapel façade is not the original one but an eighteenth century baroque work from the church of Soledad at Puente la Reina and which was transferred there in 1934. The chapel today contains an interesting exhibition of sacred art, of particular note is the altarpiece from the former convent of Carmen Calzado, a mid-eighteenth century baroque piece of work, and the Renaissance altarpiece of San Juan Bautista, from the parish of San Juan in Burlada.
The collection: In the basement, the museum exhibits prehistoric and protohistoric items. The first floor is dedicated to Roman art, with a notable collection of mosaic pavements coming principally from rural villas. Medieval art is to be found on the first and second floors and, amongst the items on show, of note are the Romanesque capitals from the former cathedral, the Hispano-Muslim chest from the monastery of Leire and the chalice that Carlos III gave to the church of Santa María de Ujué. The Renaissance works are on the second floor and, in addition to the mural paintings from the palace of Oriz, there is a magnificent wooden carving of a penitent San Jerónimo by Juan de Anchieta. The third floor is dedicated to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with works by Vicente Berdusán, Claudio Coello and Mateo Cerezo, in addition to the cycle of the Creation painted on copper by the Flemish artist Jacob Bouttats. Special mention goes to the portrait of the Marqués de San Adrián, painted by Goya in 1804. Finally, the collection is completed with some 20th century works.
CONVENT OF THE CARMELITAS DESCALZOS (10). During the 17th century, new foundations of religious orders gradually settled inside the city. The first order to do so were the Discalced Carmelite Nuns o Carmelitas Descalzas who occupied the plot of land which remained after the castle of Fernando the Catholic had been demolished, followed by the female religious order the Madres Agustinas Recoletas and the Discalced Carmelite Friars.
The Carmelite Friors obtained permission to settle within the walled enclosure in 1637, however they experienced problems when they tried to erect a church there. The nearby parish church of San Lorenzo filed a complaint, given the fact that, a few years earlier, the church of the Agustinas Recoletas has been consecrated and the parish of San Lorenz considered that yet another church so close by would take away its church goers and reduce its income. Permission was finally granted and the church of the Carmelite Friors was completed in 1673. The façade can be contemplated from a certain distance, despite the closeness of the buildings in the old quarters of the city. This is because the Carmelite Friors were responsible for demolishing part of the nearby buildings in order to widen the Calle Descalzos at the site of the convent. The design is characteristic of 17th century convent architecture, very similar to the nearby church of Las Recoletas. Inside we would highlight the chapel of San Joaquín, remodelled in the 18th century with a profuse decoration of fine ornamental plasterwork.
Along the street of Santo Andia, you will come to the square of the Virgen de la O (11), where a small basilica dedicated to this Virgin is located. Formerly, this small square was the heart of the Pobla Nova del Mercat, forming part of the Borough of San Cernin and was the place where the farm labourers resided, with their guild in the actual hermitage of the Virgin. This guild, later known as Languinobrari, still conserves its medieval constitutions. The basilica was reformed in the 18th century, however the most radical modifications were made in 1987 when the old hermitage was completely demolished to construct a new, modern building which was inaugurated in 1988.
The basilica houses the Virgen de la Esperanza (Virgin of Hope) or the Virgin of the O, a monumental sculpture made in polychromed stone dating back to the first half of the 14th century and which is generally considered to be related to the Virgin of Amparo of the Pamplona cathedral cloister. This sculpture depicts a peculiar gesture of the Child, caressing his mother’s chin, like some of the French Virgins.
CONVENT OF AGUSTINAS RECOLETAS (12). The convent was founded by Juan de Ciriza, secretary of Felipe III, who arranged for the Crown, who owned the land, to have it transferred to the Madres Recoletas. Juan Gómez de Mora, the Architect and Designer of Royal Works and Great Master of the Chartered City of Madrid, was responsible for designing the building. Amongst other works, he also designed the Plaza Mayor, the main square of Madrid. The work was completed in 1634, producing a building along the lines of seventeenth century convent architecture, similar to the Convent of the Encarnación of Madrid.
The austerity of the building exterior does not reflect the fine baroque altarpieces to be found inside the temple. Of particular note are the reredos and the two side altar screens, forming a beautiful unit that Francisco Gurrea y Garcia was commissioned to create in 1700. The temple decoration also includes a collection of tapestries based on sketches by Rubens, only equalled by the tapestry of the Descalzas Reales of Madrid.