Convento de la Magdalena was a convent, now a hotel, situated to the southwest of the town of Antequera. The convent was established in 1570 by the merchant, Ildefonso Alvarez, who possessed an altarpiece of the Virgin Magdalena. Alvarez took refuge in the area's caves and lived like a hermit. In the following three years, he struggled to pay his debts and eventually attracted the attention of the Christian community who helped him. In 1585, construction started on a small chapel in the area.
In 1648 the place became renowned for the healing from the plague by Father Cardenas, a pastor of Seville who had journeyed to the little church. Fame and abundant alms sowed corruption among hermits. In 1685, the hermits were expelled by order of the Bishop of Málaga. The order of the Discalced Franciscans took over the management of the church in 1691 and began construction of the new convent. In 1761 the guardian of the convent was reported to be Fr. Juan Gomez. The convent was abandoned in the mid-19th century.
In 2009, the convent underwent a careful restoration and became a five star hotel that left many of the original features of the Franciscan convent. Many frescoes still remain on the arched ceilings and walls.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).