Monastery of Santa Clara

It shares its name with the street where is located, one of the most historical popular arteries of Caravaca.

In 1577, a group of devoted people made a petition to open a monastery of Santa Clara (St. Claire) in Caravaca, a royal provision was issued in 1582 asking for information about the location of this convent and the people likely to contribute to its establishment.

Given this situation, the formal approval to open the convent arrived four years later, but, for economic reasons, the works did not start until 1609 in the land handed.

Therefore, the Convent of Santa Clara was solemnly founded on 27 September 1609.

Some parts of the existing building were used so the current church is the once ceded hermitage, after adapting and joining other sections. Nevertheless, a comprehensive project of adaptation of the monastery and the church was not undertaken until the end of the XVII century and beginning of the next, given the limited resources typical in that century. The nuns raised the money from donations and inheritances that they received.

In 1718, the new church was open concurring with Saint Claire festivity, and a few years later an enlargement was made in the convent joining some close properties to it.

In the church’s dome, there is a small hole through which the Clara sisters drop thousands of rose petals on the morning of May 4th , when the Vera Cruz enters the church.

The current structure of the Claras monastery of Caravaca de la Cruz is basically the same that had during its construction in the baroque period, following the tenets of Franciscan religious houses.

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