Hospital los Venerables

This guide to Hospital de los Venerables in Seville's Santa Cruz quarter starts with a swap most visitors would never guess: for nearly a century this spot held one of the city's busiest theaters, the Corral de la Dona Elvira, where Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Rueda premiered plays. It follows the 1675 sale that ended the theater, a cathedral canon named Justino de Neve, patron of the painter Murillo, buying the land to build a refuge for Seville's aging, penniless priests. Look down at the tiled steps spiraling toward the sunken fountain in the courtyard below.