The Society of Jesus arrived in Seville in 1554 and constructed a church, a professed house and a novitiate. At the beginning of the 17th century, Lucia de Medina donated land for a new, larger building and a new church with the conditions that she would be buried in the chapel and that the church be dedicated to her patron saint, Saint Louis (Louis IX of France, medieval king and first brother of King Ferdinand III of Castile and León, who reconquered Seville.)
Construction of the church began in 1699 and ended in 1730. The Jesuits abandoned the church in 1767 as a result of the Royal Order of Carlos III that expelled the Jesuits from Spain. Although they returned in 1817, the expulsion of 1835 forced them to abandon the complex altogether.
Unlike many other churches in Seville, Saint Louis was saved from destruction by the fires of 1936. Because of this, and its period of disuse, many parts of the original design have been preserved.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.