Basilica of Saint Mary of the Royal Alcazars

BIC (Cultural Heritage Site). The Basilica of Santa María de los Reales Alcázares, the main church of the city. The Christian church occupies the site of the former main mosque of the Muslim city, and is the result of a very long construction process that spans from the 13th to the 20th centuries. On the main facade, which is late Renaissance like the side one, the relief of the Adoration of the Shepherds stands out, based on a drawing by the Italian Mannerist painter Zuccaro. The two facades give access to a beautiful Gothic cloister from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The interior of the temple consists of five aisles of equal height, separated by pillars and pointed arches, which open into a very high number of chapels, with some of the most excellent examples of Andalusian religious ironwork. Both spaces, the cloister and the church, correspond to the ablutions courtyard and the interior of the former mosque, to which we are transported by its enormous dimensions and by the location of the pillars in its five aisles.