Nuestra Señora de las Nieves Church

466

La Rinconada. Fachada de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves

La Rinconada. Exterior del ábside de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves

La Rinconada. Puerta de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves

This remarkable 15th-century Mudejar temple has a rectangular plan and a polygonal apse. The three naves each divided into three sections have pointed arches supported by granite and marble Roman columns with richly decorated capitals and bases. The central nave is covered with a Mudejar coffered ceiling with three panels and joists, and the side naves with hanging ceilings.

The apse, off-centre to the central nave, is covered with ribbed vaults and crowned with battlements on the outside. The brick entrance on the left nave with two pointed archivolts is from the 15th century. The door on the west end is modern. The 18th-century tower is located to the left of the west end entrance; the Sacristy and the parish buildings date from the same century. Two Visigoth plates with geometrical themes are embedded in the left nave’s outer wall.
The sizeable main altarpiece and its sculptures are from the first third of the 18th century. The central niche holds an image of Our Lady of the Snows from the same date. Two 18th-century wrought-iron pulpits stand on each side of the altarpiece.

The church was likely finished in the early sixteenth century when the side entrances were built in late Gothic style. These entrances are almost invisible today due to the renovations carried out later. Part of the temple was destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and rebuilt by the architects San Martín, Zambrano and Silva. In 1925, the architect Juan Talavera built a square neo-Gothic chapel on the left side, at the west end of the temple.

Opening times

Mass Times

Labels