Sanlúcar, 500 years later

Sanlúcar de Barrameda excitedly prepared to commemorate one of the most notable exploits carried out by man: the first circumnavigation of the world.

Throughout the 16th century, this city's beaches and port were the protagonists of the constant departures and arrivals of the armada and fleets heading to or returning from the New World.

The port of Seville was the only port set up for the entrance and exit of ships for overseas voyages, which allowed Sanlúcar to play a pivotal role in these voyages.

Legua Cero equatorial clock

A monument commemorating and marking the departure point, or Legua Cero (League Zero), of the voyage around the world. Captained by Ferdinand Magellan, the expedition left from Sanlúcar on September 20, 1519 and returned on September 6, 1522 with Juan Sebastián Elcano at the helm.

The equatorial band was made from iron, with the hours perforated in Roman numerals, and fixed to a base of white concrete. It contains an inscription with text by Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's journalist.

Nuestra Señora de Guía (Our Lady of Guidance)

This sculpture can be found at the Chapel of Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Bajo de Guía. It is a 16th-century image of the patroness and protector of men at sea.

Her worship spread to America and the Philippines from Sanlúcar. The interior walls of the chapel are decorated with murals painted by the artist Francisco Maireles in 1983.

The Victoria

This model of the Victoria, made at a 1:8 scale of the original, is kept on the top floor of a former ice factory, today the Visitor Center for the Doñana National Park.

There are barrels represented in the dock of the exhibition.

The ship's name came from the Church of Santa María de la Victoria in Triana, where Magellan swore to serve Carlos I of Spain.

Tile representing the first voyage around the world

This depicts on one side Magellan and Elcano's fleet departing from the port of Sanlúcar, and on the other, recreation in the city of Sanlúcar as it would have been at the time. It was made by the ceramics workshop Cerámica Verónica.

Tile containing the names of the sailors who were able to return on board the Victoria.

Church of La Trinidad

It was founded by Alonso Fernández de Lugo in 1441, as a church and hospital to accommodate sailors departing and returning from the Canary Islands. It was the first temple constructed in the city's Barrio Bajo, on the sandy shores of La Ribera del Mar.

An example of the artistic exchange between either side of the Atlantic is the painting of the patron saint of Mexico, the Virgen de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe).

Convent of Regina Coeli

Founded in 1519, the same year that the Magellan-Elcano expedition set sail, by the devout García Díaz de Gibraleón.

The convent's architecture became a model for the convents founded in Latin America.

Church of San Jorge

This church was built on land given to the English Catholics by the Dukes of Medina Sidonia along with the dockyards.

It houses the 17th-century painting Christ of the Boat Owners (Cristo de los Barqueros), greatly revered by sailors.

The painting depicts Christ and the Virgen de la Caridad (Our Lady of Charity), patroness of the city; on each side are the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, and the sublieutenant Pedro de Rivera Sarmiento.

Church of Santo Domingo

This church of Dominican friars houses the 16th-century carving of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary), known as La Galeona, having traveled on galleons across the Atlantic.

The patron saint of sailors ever since the victory at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, the walls of her chapel contain paintings of naval scenes.

This temple also houses a Latin American work; the painting depicting the Virgen de la Ternura (Our Lady of Tenderness), of the Cuzco school.

It is thought to have been sent by someone from Sanlúcar who emigrated to Peru. The paint is very flat, and the artist has used a technique known as brocateado, meaning applying gold overlay to the vestments.

Parish of San Nicolás

This temple was located in the old sailors' neighborhood. It houses the 17th-century painting Hierarchia Angelorum. From the Puebla school, it demonstrates the artistic and cultural relationship between Sanlúcar and America.

Parish Church of Nuestra Señora de la O

This was the temple visited by the crew to give thanks for having arrived alive in Sanlúcar, when they disembarked after completing the voyage around the world.

It contains the Chapel of the Virgen de la Antigua (Our Lady of Antiquity), patron saint of discovery. The sailors put themselves in her hands during their voyages to the New World.

The Palace of the Guzmanes

The Guzmanes, Lords of Sanlúcar and Dukes of Medina Sidonia, controlled the city's port from this palace constructed on the site of an 11th-century Spanish-Muslim ribat monastery.

The Dukes fostered trade in the port of Sanlúcar, from where numerous scientific and commercial expeditions set sail.

Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad

This temple, constructed in the early 17th century, is the home of the patron saint of Sanlúcar, the Virgen de la Caridad (Our Lady of Charity). She was brought to Sanlúcar at the same time the Basilica was being constructed by the devout Pedro de Rivera Sarmiento, who was miraculously healed by the virgin.

The image of the Virgen de la Caridad stayed in Sanlúcar. However, its dedication traveled to America, demonstrating once again the close cultural and religious relationship between Sanlúcar and the New World.

The Convent of Capuchinos

The largest altarpiece in the church depicts the 17th-century Virgen del Buen Viaje (Our Lady of Good Voyage), patron saint of the ancient association of seafarers, protector of sailors to the Indies.

In the cloister, a unique group of paintings has been preserved representing the saints of the order, martyrs of the missions in America.