English
The Collegiate Church
Description:
The Church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, stands inside the Abbey’s monumental complex. Walking along the Abbey we find a building divided in a roman-cross plant, with a wide monumental space open in three naves: a high central aisle and two lower lateral aisles.
From the Main Chapel one can see the Choir on the upper half of the central nave, resembling the structure of bigger churches and Cathedrals.
It is noteworthy to direct the visitor’s attention to the impressive polychrome wood- carved altar-pieces: the central one raises in a circular shape with its testers covered in gold-leaf, typical of the 18 th century, framing the Sanctuary below. In the smaller lateral altar-pieces we find the effigies of the Martyr Saints above the urns where their own relics are carefully preserved.
The vaults which cover the aisles and the chapels are sustained by columns which we hardly notice in the overall beauty of the place, and that of the walls between them is enhanced by paintings and sculptures of great artistic value.
Walking inside this Collegiate Church, as it is named, we find a chapel to the right of the main entrance with the effigy of the Christ of Consolation, today known as the Christ of the Gypsies, which provides this Church with a greater entity, not only for the great devotion it receives from the Granada faithful, but because it is a work of art of the very famous sculptor Jose Risueño who carved it in wood in 1695 under the auspices of the Church’s incumbents, with significant features like the four nails.
This effigy of the crucified Christ is always accompanied by the Most Holy Mary of Sacromonte; and both attract the faithful to pray in this chapel.
In the rectangular Sacristy, at the back of the Altar, an octagonal shaped central table for chalices, which is made beautifully of semi-precious stone mosaic, is noteworthy
The main altar is adorned with carefully laid flower bouquets. On the right we find the Founder’s Chapel: Don Pedro de Castro’s mortal remains rest in a mausoleum presided by a praying kneeling effigy of himself.
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