The Franciscan convent of Nuestra Señora la Real de las Huertas was built at the end of the 15th century, but the flood of 1653 destroyed it almost completely.

The current convent was completed in the mid-eighteenth century, becoming one of the most outstanding Lorca religious buildings. It was disentailed in the nineteenth century and plundered during the Civil War.

The sculpture of the Virgen de las Huertas, patron saint of the city, is the work of Sánchez Lozano. The paintings of the church, the dressing room of the Virgin and the staircase of the Tota Pulcra are of great interest since they compose iconographic cycles that allude to the relevant characters of the Franciscan Order, to the Virgen de las Huertas related to the history of the city and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

They are appreciable works of local painters of the eighteenth century Martínez Fernández de Espinosa and Rebolloso Jiménez.

In this convent the historian Cánovas Cobeño and the counts of San Julián are buried. On September 8, the feast of the patron saint of Lorca is commemorated, which tradition points to as the image brought by Alfonso X the Wise in 1244, when the conquest of the city.

On September 8, the patron saint of Lorca, the Virgen de las Huertas, makes a floral offering and mass. In its vicinity there is the Feria Chica de Lorca, with innumerable activities, beach bars, nougat stands, fair, folklore festivals, etc.

REMARKS

The Virgen de las Huertas Sanctuary opens its doors to guided tours so they can get to know the Church and its unique pictorial cycle, as well as the archaeological remains of the Caliphal Palace.