Convent of San Marcos (León)

The Convent of San Marcos is one of the great architectural jewels of the Spanish city of León along with the cathedral, the Basilica of San Isidoro and Casa Botines. It is today converted into a tourist hostel in Spain, as well as a consecrated church and a monumental annex to the León Museum, being one of the most important monuments of the Spanish Renaissance.

“Nothing can surpass the beauty of the Arabesque and other ornaments of the facade of San Marcos.”

Samuel Edward Cook Widdrington, captain of the Royal Navy ship. Sketches in Spain. 1829.

History

Main square of San Marcos de León.

Detail of the facade.

View from the gardens of San Marcos Square.

Night view.

Panoramic photomontage of the gallery of the cloister.

Home of the church.

Interior of the church of the Convent of San Marcos.

Aspect of the ancient sacristy of the church, with the tomb of Bishop Juan Quiñones of Guzmán.

The primitive pilgrim hospital

The origins of this building date back to the XII century, when in the time of Alfonso VII of León, his sister, the Infanta Sancha Raimúndez, In July 1152, he made a donation for the construction of a modest building on the outskirts of the walled city and on the banks of the Bernesga River, in which "the poor of Christ" could stay, thus becoming a temple-hospital for refuge. of the pilgrims who made the Camino de Santiago. Likewise, the building was the main residence in the kingdom of León of the Order of Santiago. In 1176 he was elected first prior, and in 1184 he was buried in the church of him, Pedro Fernández de Castro, the first master of the Order of Santiago.

History of construction

In the 16th century, the medieval building was in poor condition, so it was demolished and a new work was carried out thanks to a donation by Fernando el Católico in 1514. The architects appointed for this work were: Juan de Orozco (church), Martín de Villarreal (facade) and Juan de Badajoz el Mozo (cloister and sacristy). However, the new work did not begin until well into the reign of Carlos I. It is known that in 1537 the canvas of the main façade of the convent was built from the entrance to the church, which was consecrated in 1541. In the following years, Orozco built the sculptures on the façade, the choir was made, and in 1549, Juan de Badajoz finished the sacristy, inside which is currently located the tomb, with a praying statue, of Bishop Juan Quiñones de Guzmán, a sculptural work attributed to Esteban Jordán. The works were suspended in 1566 due to the transfer of the community to Calera and then to Mérida, but the return of the friars to San Marcos in 1602 gave impetus to the continuation of the work. In 1615 the staircase was built and in 1679 the part of the cloister that was still missing was completed. Finally, between 1711 and 1715 a large extension of the building is carried out, raising another canvas that goes from the main entrance towards the river, until finishing in the palatial tower. This new canvas perfectly imitates the one built in the XVI century, hardly noticing any artistic difference between the two halves of the façade.

Description

The facade

As already mentioned, it is one of the most important monuments of the Spanish Renaissance. Its façade is a pearl of Plateresque. It is a single canvas with a wall of two bodies and two floors, topped with openwork cresting and candlesticks. The first body has semicircular windows and Plateresque pilasters, the second has balconies and columns with balustrades. In the plinth there are medallions with Greco-Latin characters and from the History of Spain (Hercules, Priam, Hector, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Trajan, Judith, Lucrecia, Isabel la Católica, Charlemagne, Bernardo del Carpio, El Cid, Fernando el Católico, Carlos I and Felipe II). Angel heads are represented on the plinth. The palatial tower was built from 1711 to 1714. It is decorated with the cross of Santiago and a lion and has four friezes with entablature.

The doorway and main entrance have two bodies plus a Plateresque-style comb, although in the XVIII century Baroque elements were added. In the first body there is a large semicircular arch with a rosette and decorated intrados. The key is of the exalted type representing San Marcos. There are medallions with biblical inscriptions and a high relief of Santiago triumphant in the battle of Clavijo. It has a baroque-style opening, with the coat of arms of Santiago and those of the Kingdom of León. The royal coat of arms and a statue of Fame, the work of Valladolid, are represented on the comb. Above there is an oculus in the form of a rose window crowning the cover.

The cloister

The cloister is divided into two sections from the XVI century, the work of Juan de Badajoz el Mozo, in one of the sections there is a bas-relief by Juan de Juni, representing a Birth. The other two sections are from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The church

The church is in the late Hispanic Gothic style, called «Reyes Católicos». The portal is flanked by two unfinished towers and between them a large ribbed vault. Two niches stand out, one in each tower, and in one of them the date of completion of the church is engraved: June 3, 1541. Two reliefs are represented: Calvary with a Cross and the Descent of Juan de Juni. The interior presents a wide and spacious nave, with a transept separated by ironwork. In the main altarpiece are noteworthy: Apostolate and the Annunciation (XVIII century).

As for the choir, the lower part is the work of Guillermo Doncel (XVI century), the rest of the choir is the work of Juan de Juni.

Currently, this building has three uses:

• National parador with category 5 stars. This use has been given since 1964. The interior of the tourist parador has a lot of artistic samples. Paintings of the Flemish school, wood carvings, furniture recovered from churches and derruid houses, tapestries, vagueños and works of era and contemporary artists such as Lucio Muñoz, Vela Zanetti, Agustín Recula, Álvaro Delgado Ramos, Ricardo Macarrón and Joaquín Vaquero Turcios.
• Church consecrated since 1541.
• Monumental annex to the Museum of León. Since 1845 (open in 1869) it was the seat of the Museum and since 2007 in which its headquarters was moved, its rooms host a monographic museum dedicated to explaining the monument with works of the convent itself.

Uses of the building

The history of the building has been very turbulent, having a large number of uses throughout its history, mainly after its use as a convent was suppressed in 1836, highlighting the following:

• Prison: One of his most illustrious “residents” was Francisco de Quevedo, who was detained here by order of the Count-Duke of Olivares for almost four years, between 1639 and 1643. From his detention he wrote: "I am very rigorous in prison, sick of three wounds, that with the cold and the vicinity of a river that I have to head, I have been carved, and for lack of a surgeon, not without pity, I have been cauterized with my hands; so poor that of alms have warmed me and entertained my life. The horror of my works has shocked everyone." In his detention he worked in his works: "Life of Saint Paul", "Constant and patience of the Holy Job" and the "Providence of God".
• Provincial Museum of León
• Second Education Institute.
• House of missionaries and correction of ecclesiastics.
• Veterinary School.
• Mission house of the company of Jesus.
• Prison hospital.
• "Deposit of studs."
• Central House of Studies of the Scottish Fathers.
• Offices of the Staff of the Seventh Army Corps.
• Military imprisonment.

Memorial for reprisals in the San Marcos concentration camp.

• Concentration camp of Republican prisoners during the Civil War (since July 25, 1936) and the post-war camp. Between 1936 and 1940 it was one of the most severe and saturated repressive establishments in Franco Spain, reaching a prison population of 6700 men. It was the symbol of repression in León and part of Spain and 791 was shot, 1563 walks and 598 without assigning (executed, walks, dead in the camps, etc.), in addition to 15 860 political prisoners distributed by Lion and national camps and prisons. Gabriel Montserrate Muñoz, a survivor of San Marcos, said: "When the van that picked up the corpses came, he went through the infirmary and took the gravest; even though they were alive they were thrown into the pile." Moreover, as in many fields of these characteristics, an ideological repression was carried out (led by Father Arsenio Cantero, Jesuit, and assisted by Capuchin, Augustinian and various priests), with exemplary and obligatory mass. In June 1939, a leaflet was handed over to the boarders in which, after presenting the camp as "a more or less comfortable fold", it was concluded by explaining why the "Spanish" had gone to war against the "reds": "They wanted only civil marriage, divorce and even the love. Our soldiers fought for the institution Christian family. And our soldiers have overcome." Among others, the writer Victoriano Crémer and the one who was selected by the Spanish team of Joaquín Heredia football, the latter Get out. and extrajudicially murdered. In 2007, the Leon Museum installed in one of its rooms a monolith recalling the use of this field and dedicated to the victims. In 2020, the ARMH asked National Heritage for “the placement of a plaque that recalls the history of the thousands of people who passed through its facilities, illegally detained by the Franco regime, many of whom were tortured or tortured. out from there to be killed.” The following year, the same association promoted the installation of a monolith in San Marcos Square.
• Cavalry headquarters.
• Diputation.
• Diocese.
• Ministry of War, Treasury or Education.

Even in 1875 the City Council tried to tear it down, a fate from which it was luckily spared; This was not the case with other unique buildings in the city, which were demolished.^{[citation required]}