
The historic center of Seville has been populated throughout history with a huge number of churches, convents and monasteries, which constitute an exceptional artistic heritage. We can say that it is, together with Rome, the city with the largest and highest quality set of Christian architecture in the world. The oldest examples date back to the Middle Ages, when many of the historic parishes that have survived to this day were built, such as San Marcos, Omnium Sanctorum or Santa Ana.
After the Christian conquest, numerous religious orders settled in the city, which built their monastic centers on land ceded by the crown, which thus managed to encourage repopulation. Already in the thirteenth century, female convents such as San Clemente, Santa Clara or San Leandro were founded in Seville, and other male ones, such as those of San Pablo, Trinidad or San Francisco.
Since the beginning of the 16th century, Seville has become the 'Port and Gate of America' (Puerto y Puerta de América), channeling all trade between Europe and the New World. This circumstance was an enormous boost for the religious orders in the city, since a huge number of priests, friars and nuns would depart from here, in charge of the evangelization of the 'New World'.
During the Baroque, already in the 17th and 18th centuries, the construction of churches would experience a new period of splendor and many of the old medieval churches were extensively remodeled or even replaced. It was then that temples such as San Luis de los Franceses or El Divino Salvador were built, which deserve to be among the most outstanding examples of this style at a national level.