Olivares: Collegiate Church, Palace and Guadiamar

The Ruta del Conde Duque is a guided tour of Olivares’s historic monuments and presents the municipality’s historical and cultural heritage. The associated app offers maps, audio guides, video guides, virtual tours and depictions of the period in augmented reality. In addition, the Ruta del Conde Duque offers three virtual tours that can be accessed via a smartphone or PC. Information on booking a guided visit to the Ruta is available.

Other places: Benacazón, Mairena Del Aljarafe, Pilas, Pedrera, Villamanrique De La Condesa, Valdezorras, Guadalcanal and Mairena Del Alcor.

Cultural and architectural history

The Colegiata de Olivares is a Baroque church dating from the 17th century. The painter Juan de Roelas is buried in the abbots’ crypt; he is regarded as a pioneer of naturalism in the Sevillian school. The collegiate church houses movable cultural heritage by artists such as María and Luisa Roldán, Ruiz Gijón, Montes de Oca, José de Escobar, Bernardo de Cabrera and Matías de Brunenque.

The covered, tunnel-like street El Camarín connects the Pósito o Alfolí with the collegiate church. The Pósito o Alfolí was a granary for supplies that served as a reserve in years of scarcity. Its second building has preserved intersecting arches supporting small domes.

The Palacio del Conde Duque de Olivares was built in the first half of the 16th century by Don Pedro de Guzmán y Zúñiga, the first Count of Olivares, and expanded in the 17th century by his grandson Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, the Conde Duque de Olivares. Its Renaissance façade is 62 metres long and symmetrically designed. The Salón Alfarje Grande houses a permanent exhibition of Baroque costumes made by the Gaspar de Guzmán workshop.

The Torre de San Antonio is an example of Almohad military architecture and was probably built in the 12th century AD. Arrow slits are preserved on all sides of the second floor of the Torre de San Antonio.

Chapels and brotherhood museums

The chapel of the Hermandad de la Santa Vera-Cruz was built in the second half of the 16th century as the chapel of the former Hospital de la Sangre de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo. It contains an anonymous 16th-century crucifix. The chapel’s main altar comes from the former Franciscan monastery founded by the Counts of Olivares in Castilleja de la Cuesta.

The chapel of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores has its own dome and is decorated with murals and numerous votive offerings; because of this decoration, it was known as the “Chapel of Miracles.” It is one of two free-standing chapels of the collegiate church.

The Casa Hermandad-Museo de la Santa Vera Cruz presents Olivares’s Holy Week heritage through goldsmith’s work, various embroideries, brotherhood insignia and liturgical objects. Throughout the year, it also displays liturgical and ceremonial elements of the brotherhood.

The Museo Hermandad de la Soledad contains an exhibition room with religious furnishings and devotional objects. The museum preserves a polychrome image of the recumbent Christ in the late Gothic style, dating from the first half of the 15th century. The image is considered one of the few surviving examples of its kind in Andalusia.

Landscape along the Guadiamar

The protected landscape of Corredor Verde del Guadiamar includes Olivares. Its area is 2,706.8 hectares.

San Blas and local traditions

The San Blas celebration has a history of more than 400 years. Local bakeries prepare bread, Roscos picados and doves made from bread dough for the occasion.

In Olivares, it is traditional to celebrate the feast day of Saint Blaise with a Mass dedicated to him. This religious celebration dates back to the veneration of the saint promoted by Gaspar de Guzmán, the Conde Duque de Olivares, and his wife.

To the main travel overview: Seville.