Iglesia Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Saint Dominic Church)

Located at the Plaza de España, in the centre of the town, it was declared a historic artistic monument in 1985. Originally a convent church of the Dominican friars, it is currently dedicated to Saint Dominic. Although the exact date of its construction is unknown, it is believed to be founded at the beginning of the 16th century by doña Teresa de Guzmán, Duchess of Béjar. Probably, it was constructed upon an earlier building. Of its original Mudejar style, qualified as the church with alfiz archway, there are hardly any traces left as a consequence of the various restorations it has undergone. It stands out for the monumentality of its western gate, where Mudejar style and baroque masterfully combine. The belfry, which was destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake, was built in 1779, as the inscription it was finished in 1779” depicts, following the predominant architectural norms of the time. The bell tower consists of three bodies. The first one has three basket arches, without bells. The second and third have semicircular arches between Tuscan pilasters, are equipped with bells and have a tiny spire. Their other two façades are characterized by the simplicity of their lines. The church, of rectangular base with three naves, completely freestanding, follows the traditional west-east liturgical inclination. The roofs are an extensive demonstration of late and modern medieval architecture in which the geometric motives follow the models of the Late Andalusian Renaissance. The three naves stand out because of their pointed groin vaults which were built after the original wooden ceilings collapsed in 1946. The central nave, higher and wider than the lateral ones, has been topped off with a flat apse. The current sacramental chapel is dedicated to the Our Lady of La Bella, Lepe’s patron saint, and dominates the gospel nave. It has a square base fenced by a grid of 17th century wrought iron and is covered by a geometrically decorated groined vault. Its altarpiece, destroyed during the Civil War, came from the former Franciscan monastery, located in the vicinity of El Terrón. Of it, only the Solomonic columns that frame the central arch and the rococo style camarín have been preserved. The lateral passageways each contain a niche with sculptures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Saint Roch, patron saint of the city, dating from around 1600. The right apse chapel, of Mudejar construction, is covered by an octagonal vault resting on squinches and has a gate of wrought iron. It regards an anonymous piece of the Sevillian School, dating from the 17th century. It dominates the altarpiece of the Nazarene, sculptured by José Navas-Parejo. On the right-hand side one finds the altar of the Piedad (Descent from the Cross), a sculpture of exquisite beauty originating from the disappeared monastery of the Dominican Nuns. It regards an anonymous piece of the Sevillian School, dating from the 17th century. In the lateral chapels the images of the Christ Child, of the school of Martínez Montañés, stand out. These also come from the monastery of the Piedad or the Esperanza (Hope) of the 17th century. The high chapel has a square base and is covered by a dome that rests on pendentives. The altarpiece behind the high altar, dating from the end of the 17th century and originating from the disappeared monastery of the Piedad, is made from a single piece of gilded and polychrome wood and consists of three parts. Inside it three sculptures can be seen, one of Saint Dominic, to whom the church is dedicated, dating from the 16th century, one of Saint John the Evangelist, from the second half of the 16th century, and another one of Saint Cajetan.