11. Chapel of Solitude and Sacristy

The Chapel of Solitude, located between the main chapel and the entrance to the church, also provides access to the sacristy, which determines the placement of the altarpiece. This chapel opens onto the epistle nave through a semicircular arch framed by two pilasters supporting an entablature. Above this is a split curved pediment that frames a relief with the emblem of the collegiate church of Santa María: a vase with five lilies, a symbol of Mary that is repeated in every corner of the collegiate church. The doorway is made of carved and polychrome stucco, imitating marble, and its decoration follows the taste of the second half of the 18th century. It shows two angels with trumpets at the spandrels of the entrance arch, and in the rest of the ensemble, ribbons, garlands, festoons, musical instruments, angels and rockeries are complemented by the sculptures of angels and allegories that decorate the attic.

The altarpiece in the chapel sits on an altar table and is made of gilded and polychromed wood, imitating green marble. The central niche displays a relief attributed to Félix Malo, which represents the Virgin in a sorrowful pose, with her right hand raised to her chest and pressing a white cloth to her chest while she looks to the sky with an expressive gesture. Above the relief, protected under a plaque, is the Sacred Heart of the Virgin pierced by a sword, in allusion to the first of the seven sorrows of Mary.

The sacristy, completed in 1743 and attributed to the architect and monk Fray José Alberto Pina, has a rectangular floor plan with four scallops at the corners, converting the space into an octagon and facilitating the possibility of covering it with an oval dome with lunettes. Gores in the form of chevrons are separated by the ribs that rest on corbels inserted in the frieze that runs around the entire perimeter. The whole is decorated with scallops, garlands, ovules, dentils, hanging flowers, diamond and rockery points, and is painted in ivory, turquoise and gold leaf tones.

A set of walnut and inlaid furniture completes the space. The drawers occupy three of the four walls, and in the fourth, two large built-in cupboards decorated with inlay used to house the temple’s ornaments. Two small rococo altarpieces are placed above the drawers: one shows an image of Christ Crucified and the other a beautiful Neapolitan carving of the Immaculate Conception.