Catacumbas

The Beaterio de Cádiz was founded in the 17th century, specifically in the year 1633, its founder María José Isabel founded it under the 3rd order of Saint Francis. There was hardly any information about this beaterio, only that given by Adolfo de Castro in his book "Los nombres de las calles y plazas de Cádiz", in which he comments that Calle Valverde was formerly called Calle del Beaterio because there was a Beaterio on the same street. After the departure of the Beatas, a company was set up in this building to teach women at risk of exclusion the art of sewing, but years later, the whole building was demolished except for the lower pantheon, which was the burial place of the former Order of Beatas. In the middle of the 19th century, a new residential building was built in which the catacombs were preserved and reused for a new purpose. We know that the place was used until 1947, after the explosion suffered by Cadiz due to the detonation of a set of mines that were stored in the Hydrographic Institute, which caused damage and the collapse of the upper part of the building. During the Civil War, a group of the building's neighbours hid in the small hole located on the lowest level of the building.