Convent of Nuestra Señora del Carmen

The license to found in Caravaca a Barefoot Carmelites convent was granted in 1586. Firstly, it was set up in a small house placed nearby the Parish Church of La Concepcion and today is still preserved. San Juan de la Cruz used to stay in it the seven times he visited our city. A few months later, the current convent was found on March 1587 near that first building, granted by Philip II and Saint John of the Cross itself was in its relocation according to Libro del Becerro (book) of the Barefoot Carmelites Caravaca community.

The building was finished during the middle of the XVII century, yet the works in the new church ended before in 1635.

During the first decades of the XVIII century the convent was expanded widely because of the newly inaugurated Santa Ana Carmelite novitiate creation in Caravaca, head in the region. The construction of Santa Ana chapel began later that remained unfinished until the beginning of 2006, year in which a part of the convent was adapted to convent guesthouse.