"This is a very nice building to visit while in Caceres. The old part of the town has many historical buildings. This is a beautiful church located on the old part of the town. I would recommend when walking around the old town to look at this building."

BCL ADRIAN

"Impressive from outside."

Carl Breining Rasmussen

"Some documents place the origin of this temple in the 12th century, although the earliest surviving remains must date much later, to the 14th century.

Two centuries later, already in the midst of the Renaissance (16th century), the master Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón undertook its restoration, incorporating constructive and aesthetic elements typical of the period. Some of its most notable aspects date from that period, such as its splendid main chapel and the sacristy.

This is a very spacious, single-nave church, with several attached chapels with burial chambers in the area closest to the sanctuary.

On the outside, the first thing that strikes one is undoubtedly the unique construction of its enormous, high buttresses with medallions on their fronts, some of which—those closest to the entrance doors—rest on very thick, freestanding columns with fluted shafts, connected to the church by sturdy semicircular arches.

There are two entrance doors, facing each other and located near the foot of the church: one opened in the Epistle wall and the other in the Gospel wall. Both open into pointed arches that are displayed on the exterior with archivolts, framed by alfiz arches and beneath large Renaissance coats of arms.

Its interior structure is notable for its ribbed vaults, the spacious high choir located at the foot, and its remarkable main chapel, the work of several architects, although its influence is due to Gil de Hontañon, who began its construction in the second half of the 16th century and, due to disagreements with his benefactor, left it unfinished, and the Trujillo architect Sancho Cabrera took over.

As for its furnishings, special mention must be made of its artistic and important main altarpiece, made of carved and polychrome wood by Alonso Berruguete, one of the most prominent Spanish Mannerist sculptors. This altarpiece appears mounted on the end wall of the church's apse, which is closed off from the rest of the church by a beautiful Renaissance grille, made in Peñaranda by the ironworker Francisco Núñez in the second half of the 16th century.

The altarpiece was commissioned by Berruguete in 1557, making it one of the last by this artist (he died in 1561). A native of Paredes de Nava, he settled in Valladolid, where he left it unfinished at his death. It was completed by his disciples in 1565. It was installed in this church a few years later, in 1570, after a difficult move from Valladolid in which it suffered considerable damage due to rain, which made its final assembly very difficult.

The high-relief figures, almost free from the painted backgrounds, stand out, resembling a stage. Arranged in three vertical columns, it features six large spaces in the two upper sections. The central section is dominated by an image of the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels in the upper panel, and by the patron saint of the temple, Saint James, who appears on horseback leading Christian soldiers in the fight against the infidel.

Among the other valuable carvings housed in this church, some are worthy of mention, such as the 15th-century carving of Our Lady of the Enlightened, and the Christ of Miracles or Indulgences, from the same century."

Set Contreras