In 1241, King Ferdinand III gave the Dominican Order land to establish the Convent of San Pablo the Real. The friars flourished for centuries, building an elaborate complex and church during the 13th and 14th centuries. This ornate Baroque façade was created in 1708. The entrance features a statue of Saint Paul in a clamshell-shaped niche above twisted columns called Salomonica. After the French occupation in the early 19th century, the Church of San Pablo was threated to be demolished. Fortunately, this first of the Fernandine Churches was restored by the Religious of the Heart of Mary in the early 20th century.
