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La Almedina means ‘town par excellence’ in Arabic and is the highest part of the town. Its streets and corners evoke times and places, typical of the Arabic era. Plaza de Marinalba is located in Baena’s Almedina, and can be accessed through the Arch of Santa Barbara, where we find the Crismón de Baena, a large Visigoth cross that symbolises Christianity, worked in bronze, which became the icon for the town’s civilisation and culture. The Plaza Palacio is the heart of Arabic and Medieval Baena, which appears to be dominated by another of the town’s most representative symbols: Baena’s Iberian Lion. It is a bronze reproduction of the original that can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Madrid. La Plaza Francisco Valverde or Plaza Vieja, pays homage to the great 19th century writer and historian Francisco Valverde y Perales who brought us the “Historia de la Villa de Baena” a book about the history of the town. The town’s most important monuments are all found in this Arab barrio, such as the Santa María la Mayor church, the Madre de Dios convent and the castle’s remains.   

The tower is an exceptional piece in the monumental town centre. It is made from stone and ashlar, which has been delicately and beautifully worked: its presence is wonderful. The tower forms part of the church’s portal, making its even more beautiful. It is a unique artistic corner. The La Merced church, in its current location, was built in 1650, although it underwent extensive remodelling during the second half of the 18th century. The friars arrived in Osuna in 1609 and they initially settled in the Santa Ana chapel, located on the town’s outskirts. Following two failed attempts, in 1637, they managed to erect their new monastery in the space where it remains today. The clearest references we have for this church are from the 18th century, in which important works were carried out. The author of the costly enterprise, Vicar General of the Order, Friar Miguel Ramón de San José was a native of Osuna. He reconstructed the church, its wonderful stone portal, its magnificent tower, the Genova marble flooring and its altarpieces. The works were carried out between 1768 and 1775, under the supervision of Antonio Ruiz Florindo, who also built the Casa del Cabildo Colegial in the […]

The church is an artistic and historic monumental complex. It is the tallest building and most important church in the town. The church is of staggering proportions and is located in a magnificent setting among ancestral houses. The original construction is 15th-century Gothic, however important Renaissance-style renovations were subsequently added, the most noteworthy being those to the Puerta del Perdón, which is one of the most beautiful examples of this style in Andalusia.  

The church was founded in 1592 and belonged to the hospital of the same dedication. The church has a single nave with a choir screen at the foot of the church. It has a Renaissance-style façade and the central part features a niche that displays a stone sculpture of the Virgin Mary. The retablo belongs to the seventeenth century; the Solomonic columns are its most predominant element. The main altar is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, which was sculpted at the beginning of the century. The devotional Jesus Christ of the Greatest Pain sculpture by Lorenzo Cano stands next to the altar. Several paintings are displayed in the side retablos, among which, Saint John of Nepomuk and the Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua are both noteworthy and date to the second third of the eighteenth century. The choir stands at the foot of the nave and is decorated with yeseria from the first quarter of the seventeenth century. The eighteenth-century red and black jasper pulpit is also in this section.

It was founded by Juan Téllez Girón, 4th Count of Ureña. He obtained the papel bull to erect the ancient parish church in Collegiate, dedicated to Asunción.  The exterior of the church has three portals. The interior has a wide presbytery. Construction of the Ducal Pantheon, inside the Collegiate, is thought to have started in around 1545; the chapel was consecrated 10 years later. It was founded by Juan Téllez Girón and is plateresque in style. It adjoins to the Collegiate and has three main nuclei: the Patio of the Ducal Tomb, the Chapel and the Pantheon. The museum’s main room is located in the former sacristy of the collegiate. It displays an impressive collection of Ribera’s works and a many pieces of silverware.

La parroquia de Santiago de estilo gótico-mudéjar, se inició en 1503, por disposición testamentaria de García Méndez de Sotomayor, el  Comendador de la Orden de Santiago. Tradicionalmente se ha considerado como antigua sinagoga judía, pero posiblemente en su construcción  se reutilizaron los materiales del entonces recién demolido viejo templo de San Mateo, donde realmente pudo estar la antigua sinagoga y mezquita. La iglesia es de planta rectangular, presenta tres naves divididas por pilares octogonales que soportan arcos apuntados de ladrillo con alfiz. Las tres naves se cubren con artesonado reconstruido siguiendo el modelo del original. Hoy, decorada en armonía con el estilo mudéjar del resto del templo, se venera en ella el Cristo de la Columna, obra del insigne escultor sevillano Pedro Roldán, realizada en el siglo XVII, y Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza.

Santa Cruz church was built between 1776 and 1836 over the site of previous constructions, from which Visigoth capitals and a blind arch with Arabesque yeseria and a Mudejar emblem are preserved. The current church consists of three naves, each with five sections, and houses interesting Baroque pieces. The eighteenth-century main altarpiece came from the La Concepción de los Mercedarios convent. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Valley, a circa-1575 sculpture from the Jerónimo Hernández circle. It features an interesting fifth-century paleo-Christian sarcophagus with biblical scenes carved in stone. The church also houses the town’s Sacred Art Museum, which exhibits an extensive collection of eighteenth-century silver- and goldsmithery, including osculatories, panels, float frames, lecterns, altar cards, paintings, sculptures, furniture, ornamental picture frames, holy water vessels, and bells. The most interesting items are an outstanding Nanban “Shokendai” lectern, which was made in 1573 in Japan during the Momoyama Period, and a gilded silver monstrance by Francisco de Alfaro Hernández in 1586 (Seville). The tower is Renaissance in style. Visitors can admire an impressive view from its bell tower and take in the town’s other numerous towers and steeples.  The Mudejar Arch that stands in the church entrance is from Alfonso X’s reconquest in […]

This is Puente Genil’s oldest church and was its only parish church until the second half of the 20th century. Its original location would have been due to the first repopulation that occurred in the second half of the 13th century. However, there are no remains from this era, given that it bordered with Granada’s Nasrid kingdom and this land was exposed to the Moors’ continual razzias. It is thought that the current construction must date back to the beginning of the 16th century, which is when inhabitants started to settle definitively in Pontón de Don Gonzalo. The area was named after its founder Gonzalo Yañez Dovinal. The oldest baptism registry book dates back to these early years. In addition to the three naves and some lost altarpieces of the ancient style, there is only a very modified 16th century altarpiece, which holds several painted panels and that today houses an image of the Virgen del Rosario. The altarpiece that houses the Virgen de las Angustias is the one that holds onto its ancient roots, dating back to 1640. It is baroque in style and is not polychromed, except for some small cherubs that support the Solomonic columns. The whole church ensemble was renovated […]

Nuestra Señora de la Victoria church was founded in 1506 over the site of San Martín chapel, which originally belonged to the Minim Congregation. It was the fourth convent that the order founded in Spain. It has a Greek cross floor plan and has two carved marble Baroque portals, a vault covered in eighteenth-century yeseria, and a grand, three-sectioned, exposed brick tower, which appears to be connected to Málaga’s Baroque style. The early eighteenth-century main altarpiece exhibits a collection of paintings of the same period, which depict the Immaculate Conception, the Imposition of the Chasuble on Saint Ildefonsus, Saint Michael, Saint Joseph, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Blaise. The central niche features the mid-sixteenth century Jesus Christ of the Gonfalon sculpture; the Our Lady of the Victoria sculpture appears in the attic. The marquises of Peñaflor’s tombs can also be found inside the church. The brick tower was erected between 1754 and 1757. It differs from other Baroque towers in Écija, as the shaft is decorated. The Cristo de Confalón brotherhood has an agreement with the church to use it as its base and is committed to displaying its sculptures for worship.

The small chapel that was dedicated to San Antón in the 16th century used to be on the same site of the Inmaculada Concepción sanctuary. Due to the plague that swept across Andalusia in 1650, the town, then Pontón de Don Gonzalo, voted for the Immaculate Concepción to be their Patron. However, the church was inadequate given the Patron’s rank. During the second half of the 18th century, the decision was made to build a church that was more appropriate for the Patron. Several houses on the calle Aguilar were bought for the extension. The church’s portal is the most impressive in Puente Genil, with its frontal platform and staircase closed off by a partition, double columns, broken pediment, etc. All of these elements are created with stone from Sierra Gorda and packed into a large niche. Inside the church, the gypsum-sculpted, polychromed main altar is impressive. It is in imitation of coloured marble and is the work of Pedro de Mena Gutiérrez, from Lucena; the popular-style baroque plasterwork can be found throughout the church around large Corinthian pilasters. The elliptical dome is remarkable. It has plasterwork reproducing Marian motifs. The 18th century chapel houses the image of the Patron, the Immaculate Conception, […]