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The Baroque additions: The Tabernacle
At the beginning of the 17th century, the old tabernacle, located between the Puerta del Perdón and the well-known nave of the Lizard, was considered insufficient for liturgical needs and therefore not decorative enough to hold the Blessed Sacrament.
It was Mateo Vázquez de Leca, canon of Seville and archdeacon of Carmona, who defended the initiative to build a new temple of greater prestige and dimensions. By capitular agreement, Bishop Pedro de Castro y Quiñones laid the first stone of this temple dedicated to San Clemente.
It has an interior of great height in which the classical orders combined with an exuberant baroque ornamentation are present. It has a box plan with a section of interior buttresses, between which are located the chapels that open on both sides.
On its façade is the main doorway, linteled and flanked by double fluted Tuscan columns on pedestals. It is topped by a triangular pediment containing a cartouche with the cathedral symbol and two allegorical figures reclining on it. This is the main access that is generally used, although this church also has two other doors, one at the foot and another that communicates with the Perdón door, both designed by Pedro Sánchez Falconete.
Inside, the church houses a real treasure trove of heritage. Among this treasure we can highlight the Infant Jesus carved by Juan Martínez Montañés in 1606 and the Christ of the Crown, a Nazarene of the 16th century that is carried in procession days before Easter. But, there is a work that stands out and it is the main altarpiece, coming from the chapel of the Vizcaínos of the disappeared convent of San Francisco. A jewel of Sevillian art from the second half of the 17th century, its architectural structure is the work of Francisco Dionisio de Rivas, while the sculptures and reliefs are by Pedro Roldán and are undoubtedly among the best of its exquisite collection.
The central scene corresponds to the Gospel passage of the Descent from the Cross. As a finishing touch, a sculpture of San Clemente made by Duque Cornejo. In short, the Iglesia del Sagrario has enough value in itself to be considered an important monumental complex within the enormous block full of attractions of which it is a part.