Santa Maria dello Spasimo

Santa Maria Spasimo is the ruin of a gothic church building in Palermo. As a Gothic building has Santa Maria Spasimo a special position among Palermo's churches, which are mostly Baroque and Norman- Arab style.

The construction of the church and of the connected Olivetans monastery began in 1509 due to a papal bull of Pope Julius II, but already about 70 years after completion, it was abandoned as a church, as it was required as part of the defenses because of their proximity to the city wall. The Senate of Palermo bought 1569 Church and Convent, the Olivetans received the now assigned as temporary quarters for the Ospedale Grande owned former Cistercian monastery of Santo Spirito. The Pope allowed the secular use of the buildings of Santa Maria.

During the plague epidemic in 1624, the buildings were used as a military hospital, then as a granary, workhouse and hospital. After a long decline, caused, inter alia, by the flood of 1931 and the earthquake of 1940 and 1968, the ruin and its outbuildings have been made ​​available again in 1998; they now house a jazz school and serve as a meeting hall.

The original altarpiece by Raphael Spasimo di Sicilia is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Looking back into the nave

Originally altarpiece