Úbeda: World Heritage Site

The Sacred Chapel of El Salvador, a temple of maximum programmatic complexity, stands out. To visit it is, above all, to meet its promoter: Francisco de los Cobos, secretary of Emperor Charles V; Diego de Siloé, author of the general design of the temple; Andrés de Vandelvira, master builder and artist of the Renaissance; Berruguete, author of the ancient altarpiece of the main altar, of which only the grandiose figure of Christ in the transfiguration; with Esteban Jamete, the stone sculptor of the façade and sacristy; with Francisco de Villalpando, author of the superb wrought ironwork, and in short, an encounter with the most ambitious undertaking of all the private religious architecture of the 16th century, a temple that in its day was a symbol of prestige and power and today, an essential key to the enjoyment and knowledge of the Spanish Renaissance.

Around this square there is a succession of streets and stately squares presided over by palaces, churches and convents, such as: The Gothic Church of San Pablo nestled in the delightful Plaza del Mercado or Primero de Mayo, whose interior exhibits an exquisite display of Renaissance grilles; the Convent of San Miguel and the Oratory of San Juan de la Cruz, where the mystic poet died; the Church of the Holy Trinity, of Baroque style, with Renaissance cloister of double porticoed gallery; the Church of San Nicolás de Bari, of Gothic layout, Renaissance grille and front; the Church of San Pedro also Gothic with Renaissance front; the Convent of Santa Clara, one of the most important religious foundations in the city. The Church of San Lorenzo; the Casa de las Torres, a palace with a Castilian accent embroidered with coats of arms, reliefs and symbolic sculptures; the Palace of the Marquis of La Rambla, etc.

Another of the crowning pieces of Renaissance architecture in Úbeda and of the mastery of its author, Andrés de Vandelvira, is the Hospital de Santiago, today converted into the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos (Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses). It was ordered to be built by the bishop D. Diego de los Cobos, bishop of Jaén, it is a variation on the traditional hospital of the Catholic Monarchs. In him the sober main facade, preceded by a wide lonja and flanked by two towers, gives way to a harmonious central courtyard from where it distributes its most interesting dependencies. The staircase is decorated with mural paintings, as is the sacristy. The main chapel has an original floor plan, profuse decoration and brilliant grillwork.