Montilla – Santiago Apostol Parish Church

Santiago Apostol Parish Church

The Santiago Apostol Parish Church is located at C/ Iglesia 6 (Iglesia Street 6) in the town of Montilla, Córdoba province, next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus monument and the Montilla Castle.

The exact origins of this main church of Montilla are unknown today. The first traces date back to the second half of the 13th century, at the tiem of the repopulation of Andalusia. In these times, a patronage of the lords of Aguilar is constituted over the churches in the towns of their territory, amongh which is Montilla, which implies the presentation of the clerics who would be in charge of the churches of teir territoires who they would take care of their suport.

Some scholars maintain that, after taking over the territory, the church of Santiago Apostol of Montilla was built on an old mosque and consecrated to Christian worship, although it is true that no irrefutable evidence has been found in this regard so far. Lorenzo Muñoz attributes the name of its main church to the day of the capture of the city, on July 25, 1240, in which he affirms that the Archbishop of Toledo said his first mass after the consecration of the mosque, who accompanied the royal army in the moment. Antonio Jurado the Aguilar pronounces himself in the same sense in his Montilla History. It also refers to the will of Don Alonso Fernández de Córdoba, husband of Doña Teresa Ximénez de Góngora, dated October 25, 1325, in which he leaves ten thousand maravedís to the Church of Santiago for masses for his soul and the lifting of his main chapel. He also affirms that hes grandson, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, very devoted to the Apostle Santiago, contributed, along with alms from the Montillan neighbors, to the construction of a new altarpiece for his main church around 1365. About what that altarpiece was like, no information has been published, except that it was presided over by a beautiful sculpture of the Lord of Santiago.

Nuestra Señora del Rosario Chapel

Inmaculada Concepción Altarpiece

Cristo de Zacatecas

Baptismal Chapel

San Francisco Solano Altarpiece

Ecce Homo Chapel

San Juan Bautista Altarpiece

San Pedro Chapel Altarpiece

Purísima Concepción Altarpiece

Sagrario Altarpiece

Montilla Town Hall