The Hospital de la Caridad, a large sturdy building one block east of the river, was once a hospice for the elderly. It was founded by Miguel de Mañara, by legend a notorious libertine who changed his ways after seeing a vision of his own funeral procession. Its main set piece is its gilded chapel decorated profusely by several Golden Age painters and sculptors, most notably Murillo and Roldán.
The hospital was famously pillaged by Napoleon’s troops in 1810 when a kleptomaniac French officer named General Soult stole several of the Murillo paintings that adorned the chapel’s walls. The paintings were never returned, though copies were made and hung up in place of the originals in 2008. See if you can spot the fakes.
