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Convent of Santa Catalina del Monte

The Franciscan convent occupies the slope of Santa Catalina hill, between Santo Ángel and Verdolay. Its foundation is placed in 1443, from a nucleus created in 1441 by Juan Mercader. In 1936 it was stormed and set on fire: furniture, a library of more than 5,000 books and several images by Salzillo were lost. Today it belongs to the Franciscan Province of Cartagena and the community lives in the former Bishops' Summer Palace, a Baroque building constructed between 1789 and 1805 by Mateo Gilabert. The complex comprises convent, palace, garden and orchard. The garden has white marble columns with Ionic capitals and several millstones, within a walled enclosure with railings. In the building there are five coats of arms protected as Sites of Cultural Interest (Bien de Interés Cultural). In the church and the refectory three works by the painter Almela Costa are preserved. In the surroundings are the Iberian site of Cabecico del Tesoro, the castle of La Luz or Verdolay and the hermitage of San Antonio el Pobre.

Things to do at Convent of Santa Catalina del Monte: 3 missions

• Discover Almela Costa's works in the churchAttend a Mass and look in the church for one of the works by the painter Almela Costa.
• Count the building's five coats of armsWalk around the outside of the complex and find the five coats of arms protected as Sites of Cultural Interest (Bien de Interés Cultural).
• Take in the bishops' summer palaceLook at the Baroque building raised by Mateo Gilabert between 1789 and 1805 as the bishops' summer residence and now home to the Franciscan community.

Near Convent of Santa Catalina del Monte

Source: Web oficial - Convento de Santa Catalina del Monte (Santo Ángel)