The Hospital of Nuestra Señora de la Paz is a welfare foundation belonging to the Order of Hospitaller Brothers of San Juan de Dios, settled in Seville since 1543 and in the location they currently occupy since 1574. It was founded as a center for the care of sick with few resources and later began to also deal with convalescent former soldiers. With the Confiscation, the Hospital was expropriated in 1836 but the hospital brothers returned to their old home in 1880. Since then, the order has continued to be in charge of the Hospital, which currently functions as a nursing home.
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The most artistically interesting part, and the only one open to the general public, is the church of Nuestra Señora de la Paz, which overlooks the Plaza del Salvador. It is a temple originally built in the first half of the 17th century, although deeply reformed during the 18th century.
It is a church with three naves, with a transept not marked in plan and a flat head.
On the outside, its only façade at the foot has a design that has originally been attributed to the late-Renaissance architect Vedmondo Resta. It is divided into three levels
In the first, four Doric columns support a frieze of metopes and triglyphs. Between the lateral ones there are two oculi and between the central ones, the lowered semicircular arch that gives access to the temple.
In the center of the second level, four columns again, but this time surrounded by profuse decoration with plant motifs, rockeries and child angels, elements probably added in the 18th century. They frame three niches that house the images of San Agustín, the Virgin with the Child and San Juan de Dios. The side niches are profusely decorated, while the central one is extremely simple. In addition, the stylistic features of the central image of the Virgin are clearly different from those of the lateral images, which indicates that this central space was reformulated after the rest of the cover. The whole set is framed by two pilasters, also with abundant ornamentation.
On the third level, the doorway is completed with a niche framing a modern stained glass window, flanked by abundant and meticulous sculptural decoration. Above the stained glass window, two angels hold a crown over the symbol of the brothers of San Juan de Dios, a pomegranate, which recalls the founding of this order in the Andalusian city of the same name in 1572.
Above the whole, a curved and divided pediment rises in the center of which an oculus opens. On both sides of the façade, we find two bell towers topped by stylized spiers covered in tile.
Inside, we find the three naves of the church divided by semicircular arches on marble columns, with the central one notably higher than the lateral ones. The side naves are covered with barrel vaults, like the central one, which also includes lunettes. At the foot of the temple, there is a high choir decorated with abundant rococo-style plasterwork decoration. Above the transept, there is a dome with a lantern, decorated with plasterwork with geometric motifs, original from the 17th century.
The tile base that runs along the walls of the temple is especially interesting for its originality in Seville. It has been dated back to 1771 and has a beautiful 'candelieri' decoration in blue and white, with some yellow motifs in prominent areas.
The main altarpiece is neoclassical in style and dates from around 1800, when it replaced a previous one in the Baroque style. In the central niche, a dressed image of the Virgin of Peace, head of the temple, is venerated, flanked by San Juan de Dios and San Juan Grande, all sculptures from the same period as the altarpiece.
Two of the most artistically interesting images in the temple are located in the headers of both side naves. These are the representations of San Rafael and San Juan de Dios, both attributed for their great quality to the great Martínez Montañés.
On the walls of the church there is a series of eight Baroque altarpieces, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, which house an interesting set of sculptures. Among the religious images, we could highlight the following for their interest:
- An image of San Andrés from the 17th century attributed to Francisco de Ocampo, from the previous main altarpiece of the church, now disappeared.
- San Carlos Borromeo, carved by Juan de Mesa in 1618.
- An image of the Cristo de la Humildad, dated around 1600, which reproduces the iconography of Christ grieving in the moments before the Crucifixion. This representation has its origin in an engraving by Dürer and is widespread in Sevillian churches.
- An Immaculate Conception by the Valencian sculptor Blas Molner, from the late 18th or early 19th centuries. Due to its great dynamism and originality, it could also be identified as an Assumption of the Virgin.