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Convento de las Brígidas
	The façade of the convent
Monastery information
Order	Bridgettines
Established	1589
Disestablished	2007
Archdiocese	Burgos
Diocese	Vitoria
Architecture
Completion date	1909 (current building)
Site
Location	Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava Basque Country, Spain
Coordinates	42°50′48″N 2°40′38″W / 42.8467°N 2.6772°W

The Convento de las Brígidas (Basque: Brigiden komentua) is a former Bridgettine convent in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain. The convent, whose current building dates from the early 20th century, has been vacant since 2007.

History

The earliest documental evidence of the convent dates from 1291. The document is an agreement between the city of Vitoria and the Brotherhood of Arriaga in which Santa María Magdalena was mentioned as marking the borders of the city. At the time the site was a leper hospital operated by the Order of Saint Lazarus. The earliest municipal documents mentioning the hospital, from 1480, called it Casa de la Magdalena. In 1575 the decision was taken to convert the hospital into a convent, with the first Discalced Carmelites arriving in 1589.^[1]

Relations between the Carmelite nuns and the city were contentious, often requiring the intervention of the nuncio. As a consequence, on 15 March 1653, the Bridgettines arrived to the city to replace the Carmelites. The Bridgettine convent in Lasarte-Oria [es] was founded in 1671 by nuns from Vitoria. The Convent of Santa Brígida [es] in Mexico City was also founded by Bridgettines from Vitoria in 1739.^[2]

The old convent was demolished in 1906 to make room for the construction of the New Cathedral.^[3] The new convent was built from 1907 to 1909 under the direction of Fausto Íñiguez de Betolaza.^[4] The neoclassical façade of the old convent, dating from 1783, was dismantled and rebuilt at the new site.^[5] The convent has been vacant since 2007, when the last remaining nuns relocated to Valladolid.^[6] A proposal was made in 2022 to turn the premises into a hospice,^[7] but the plans were dropped in early 2024.^[8]

Architecture

The most notable element of the convent is the Neoclassical façade designed by Olaguíbel in 1783,^[9] originally flanked by two Ionic columns.^[10] The church itself has a floor plan in the shape of a Latin cross with very short arms. Its vault is painted with frescoes by local painter Lucio Ruiz. The main altarpiece was purpose-built for the new convent, but the lateral ones were originally from the old one.^[11]

References

Citations

^ Colá y Goiti 1899, p. 589.
^ Colá y Goiti 1899, p. 590.
^ Armentia, Iñaki (5 June 2023). "El taller de escultura y la escuela de modelado de la Catedral Nueva". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 June 2024.
^ Pérez de la Peña Oleaga, Gorka (2013). "El arquitecto Fausto Íñiguez de Betolaza, 1847-1877-1924" (PDF). RIEV [es] (in Spanish). 48 (2). Eusko Ikaskuntza: 427–428. ISSN 1137-4454.
^ "Convento de las Brigidas (Vitoria-Gasteiz)". Website of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council.
^ Lorente, Adolfo (25 April 2011). "Dudas sobre su valor cultural ralentizan la reconversión del convento de las Brígidas". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 June 2024.
^ Ruiz de Gauna, Rebeca (6 February 2022). "Centro de investigación atención y formación en cuidados paliativos en el convento de las Brígidas". Noticias de Álava (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 June 2024.
^ Cancho, Rosa (20 January 2024). "La residencia de paliativos de Vitoria naufraga por el rechazo del Obispado a la eutanasia". El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 June 2024.
^ López de Guereñu 1970, p. 259.
^ Colá y Goiti 1899, p. 588.
^ López de Guereñu 1970, p. 260.

Sources

López de Guereñu, Gerardo (1970). "Convento de Religiosas Brígidas". In Enciso Viana, Emilio (ed.). Ciudad de Vitoria (PDF). Catálogo monumental de la Diócesis de Vitoria (in Spanish). Vol. III. Obra Cultural de la Caja de Ahorros Municipal de Vitoria. pp. 259–261. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2021.
Colá y Goiti, José (1899). "Las Brígidas de Vitoria". Euskal-Erria (in Spanish). 41: 586–590. hdl:10690/71926.