The Alberto Jiménez-Becerril hall of the Parliament of Andalusia, located in Seville, is now ready to function as the Chamber's new provisional plenary hall, where the constitutive session of the XIII Legislature will be held on June 11 after the regional elections of May 17.
According to parliamentary sources indicated to Europa Press, only some minor details remain to be finalized, but the tables and armchairs for the 109 deputies of the new legislature have already been placed, as well as the microphone system for interventions, and the hall's lighting has been reinforced.
In March, the restoration work on the facades, the Plenary Hall, and other unique elements of the old Hospital de las Cinco Llagas, the current headquarters of the Andalusian Parliament and the Court of Auditors, began. These works will last 23 months and have an award budget of 4.11 million euros, financed with own funds from the remainder fund.
The project was presented by the President of the Chamber, Jesús Aguirre, together with the project architects, Antonio Campos and Adán Carlos Ramos, and representatives of the awarded company, Actúa Infraestructuras S.L. The intervention focuses on the cleaning, consolidation, and restoration of almost 9,000 square meters of facades, spires, the Plenary Hall (old church), the vault of the Hall of Lost Steps, and other exterior elements, for which approximately 200 tons of calcarenite stone will be used to replace and repair damaged or detached pieces.
The first phase is dedicated to the restoration of the church, now the Plenary Hall, and will later extend to the rest of the areas, such as the facades and spires. The forecast is that the Plenary Hall will be able to host sessions again from September.
In the Alberto Jiménez-Becerril hall, custom-designed tables for the deputies have been placed, while the leather armchairs from the Plenary Hall have been reused. The carpet has also been replaced, which includes a section of red carpet, and the lighting and cooling system have been improved, in addition to adapting the audiovisual production. For now, an electronic voting system has not been installed, as the votes planned for the constitution of the Chamber and the investiture debate or debates will be carried out by ballot box or by roll call.
The chamber, of smaller capacity than the usual Plenary Hall, has a small guest stand with 32 seats. Behind the new Parliament Table, the banner with the official coat of arms of Andalusia, with Hercules and the two lions, has been placed.
This Friday, May 22, the members of the Parliament's Permanent Deputation are scheduled to visit the chamber to check its conditioning as a provisional plenary hall in situ, according to the same sources.
That same Friday, at 11:00 a.m., the Permanent Deputation will hold a session for the debates on the validation or repeal of the decree-laws approving urgent measures for the promotion of silvopastoral uses of the mountain in the prevention of forest fires in Andalusia, and of economic and fiscal aid to the victims of the Adamuz (Córdoba) railway accident.
History of the old Hospital de las Cinco Llagas
According to information from the Parliament, the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas, founded in the 16th century on the initiative of Doña Catalina de Ribera as a women's hospital, is one of the most outstanding works of the Spanish Renaissance. Its construction began in 1546, outside the walls of Seville, under the patronage of the Ribera family and with the intervention of masters such as Hernán Ruiz II, responsible for the bell body of the Giralda and the Church of the Annunciation, following an ambitious design inspired by European models such as the Hospital Mayor of Milan.
Although the project remained unfinished and was never completed as conceived, the building functioned without interruption as an assistance center and military hospital for more than four centuries, until its decline and closure in 1972. Declared a National Monument in 1931 and affected by the 1968 earthquake, the building underwent a profound rehabilitation at the end of the 20th century to adapt it to its current use as the headquarters of the Parliament of Andalusia and the Chamber of Accounts, integrating the old church as a plenary hall.