Iglesia de Santa Ana is the church in Triana where Ana’s funeral is scheduled after her sudden collapse and death. Though the narrative offers little description of the building itself, its repeated identification gives it a decisive role: it is the place where Frank hopes to pay his respects and where the story’s unresolved questions about Ana converge with his attempt to reconnect with Vera.

Setting and Identification

The church is named as the venue for Ana’s funeral in Triana. José tells Frank that the funeral will take place there on Friday, after explaining that Ana received injections in hospital and briefly improved, but never recovered enough to undergo the operation her doctors had planned. Her death, he says, occurred scarcely a week earlier.

The location becomes a practical point of certainty in a conversation that leaves Frank with many unanswered questions. He still does not know who the mysterious dwarf in Seville was, what Ana herself thought about her resemblance to the portraits, or what lay behind the phrases she and José repeatedly recited on Taveuni. Against that uncertainty, the church and the announced funeral date are facts he can hold onto.

The Funeral as a Destination

After hearing the news, Frank considers asking Vera to go with him to Seville for the weekend. He frames the invitation partly as a request for company at a funeral he regards as important, and partly as a playful debt owed to him after she laughed when he recognized Ana and José by the Tormes River. The proposed journey thus joins mourning to the couple’s shared history and their renewed contact.

When Frank later brings up the funeral again, he specifies that it will be held at the church at seven in the evening. Vera does not commit to going; she says they will see, while also agreeing to read what Frank is writing. The church therefore remains an intended destination rather than a fully narrated gathering in the available account.

Narrative Significance

Iglesia de Santa Ana links Ana’s death to Frank’s next movement through the story: the news redirects his attention toward Seville and gives him a reason to invite Vera into an emotionally charged occasion. Its name also echoes the name Ana, a coincidence Frank notices with irritation. The church is not developed as an architectural setting; its significance lies in the funeral it is to host, the questions surrounding Ana that remain unsettled, and the possibility of shared attendance that Frank places before Vera.