Santiago el Mayor Church

Granted “Site of Cultural Interest” status, this fifteenth-century Gothic-Mudejar church is located a short distance from the Puerta de Osuna gateway.

The church is preceded by a trapezoidal, porticoed courtyard. The door that leads to the street sits below a lintel and is flanked by two columns crowned by a curved pediment and a central niche, which were created by architect, Pedro de Silva, in around 1760.

The church has a rectangular floor plan, with three naves, separated by vaulting shafts and a polygonal apse. The church’s pièce de résistance is its main altarpiece, where paintings and sculptures harmoniously complement one another. Carvings denote the transition from Gothic to the Renaissance, with reliefs and sculptures from the Jorge Fernández circle and sixteenth-century paintings on panels.

The tower, located at the foot of the Gospel side of the nave, was affected by the earthquake of 1st November 1755. It was demolished in 1757, and construction of the new tower began the same year in a different location. It has a raised, brick shaft, from which two balconies open out, with alternating circle and square apertures. Moulding and carved brick capitals, stony decorative elements, painted plasterwork and glazed blue ceramics are combined to decorate the tower.