Description

 

The parishioners of Andújar were distributed in the Middle Ages in five parishes, the temple of Santiago was one of them. By the order of April 30, 1842 (Regency of Baldomero Espartero) the parish of Santiago and St. Marina were suppressed, and the parish of St. Mary became dependent from that moment. In 1896, the Servants of Mary established themselves in the adjoining house at the foot of the temple, donated by Mrs. Francisca Sánchez Pleites and Beltrán de Gaicedo. From that moment on, the aforementioned order was responsible for the maintenance and care of the temple. Repaired in the 1940s by Devastated Regions, the care of the temple passed to the Franciscan nuns until the 1960s. At present, it lacks a religious function and underwent a profound restoration in 1986 by the Andalusia Goverment, altering the height of the whole.

 

It is a temple with a basilical plan organized in three naves, articulated in five sections, conceived in Gothic style. In the middle of the 16th century, according to Rafael Frias's studies, Domingo was in charge of the works that were being carried out in the temple, following the plan given by Vandelvira, for which he collected 1,496 maravedies in 1559. The new head, projected in the last two sections of the temple, has a flat roof, ships of equal height, covered with ogive vaults of six-pointed stars on the sides and terceletes with diamonds inscribed at their center in the center one. Ribs and arches rest on beautiful shoes carved on the perimeter walls of the head and on two pillars of square section with half columns of Tuscan order on plinths on each of their fronts. The wall of the headboard is reinforced with external buttresses, in line with the formeret arches, as a consequence of the thrusts that it receives from the vaulting. The patronage of the Capilla Mayor was exercised in the eighteenth century by Don Manuel Cárdenas y Cuadros, count of the Quinteria, whose lineage can still be seen in the foreground.

​

The rest of the temple is covered with barret vault, with lunettes and articulated with transverse arches, fruit of a remodeling that suffered in the eighteenth century.

​

In the first half of the 18th century, the chapel of the Christ of the Column was built, parallel to the first three sections of the nave of the Gospel. His dressing room covered with vault of half orange on pendentives, presents exuberant decoration in plaster that turns him into one of the most representative works of the local baroque.

​

Coinciding with the fourth section are the two doors of the temple, which are on the same axis. The south door, of late Gothic style, presents great similarity of forms with the southern one of the church of St. Michael. It may have the same authorship and, in that case, it would be from the 15th century. The exterior conopial arch is topped with the shell, symbol of the pilgrimage to Santiago. The north door, with a semicircular arch on Tuscan pilasters. It is topped by a belfry with two bodies, three bays and a triangular pediment.

​

Association of Friends of the Patrimony of Andujar