Subbetica
Church of Our Lady and the Convent of the Franciscan Friars
Although the church was founded in 1558, its current appearance is the result of work carried out in 1620 by the Malaga-born master builder Francisco de Lucena, on the site of an old medieval chapel. A simple Mannerist façade leads into a spacious nave on a Latin cross plan, with side chapels, centred around a high, luminous semi-spherical dome. The high altar is presided over by a beautiful Baroque-Salomon style altarpiece, crafted by José Matías Sánchez, based on designs by Leonardo Antonio de Castro. Also noteworthy are the side altarpieces and a collection of religious sculptures of considerable interest, including several figures attributed to Pedro de Mena and the image of Our Lady of Sorrows, a Pietà created in 1799 by Blas Molner. The adjoining convent is organised around a beautiful, large square courtyard comprising two cloisters, upper and lower, with arcades supported by Doric columns in the lower cloister and Ionic columns in the upper one, and centred on a monumental fountain with a mixtilinear plan and a Baroque double-bowl pillar dating from the early 17th century.