Mudéjar Church of Santiago

The church belonged to the convent of Santa Clara, founded in 1284 by Doña Berenguela, daughter of Alfonso X the Wise. Infanta Doña Isabella, daughter of Sancho IV and María de Molina, founded a second convent in another location, by commissioning the construction of the Royal Convent of Santa Clara at Guadalajara at the beginning of the fourteenth century. In 1339, Don Alonso Fernández Coronel acquired the large chapel as his place of burial. Various modifications were made to its appearance in the seventeenth century.

The church is located in the town's Jewish quarter. In 1919, the convent was sold to the Count of Romanones, who gave the church (under the name of Santiago) to the parish.

The church's decorative qualities demonstrate the great richness of Mudéjar art, which is typical of the Iberian Peninsula, where there was a mixture of Islamic and Christian traditions. Although a large arch indicates the building's original entrance, the church's façade was constructed in the seventeenth century. Outside, a row of brick modillions runs along the canopy, as they do along the church walls. The double sloping roof, whose slopes continue to form an elevated area at their point of intersection, can be compared to that of the synagogue of Santa María at Guadalajara and the Synagogue of El Transito in Toledo.

The Church of Santiago, which is has no transept, is divided into three naves in the traditional Mudéjar style, the central nave being the widest. A comparison can be made with the Toledan architecture of the Church of San Andrés, as in both cases there's an absence of symmetry between the central nave and the apse.

The church has a tripartite sanctuary: a polygonal apse representing the main chapel, whose exterior has typically Mudéjar brick buttresses, and two lateral chapels. The central apse is very similar to that of the church of the Santa Clara Monastery (Moguer), which also dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century. Both edifices also have flat piers in the lateral naves. A link can also be made between this church, the Santa Maria churches, and the San Miguel church (Brihuega).

The lateral chapel of the Epistola nave was founded by Don Diego García de Guadalajara, in 1452. There is a mixture of Gothic Christian and Islamic influences in the chapel. An Arabic influence can be seen in the use of lobed arches.

The chapel of the Evangelio nave dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century, and may have been decorated by Alonso de Covarrubias, for the burial of Juan de Zúñiga, knight of the order of Santiago.

The elevation is comprised of high pointed arcades surrounded by rectangular framework resting on octagonal freestone pillars with typically Gothic bases and capitals. The ensemble is ornamented with Islamic style stucco, and geometric and epigraphic motifs, containing the word baraka (benediction) in kufic script. The central nave is covered by a typically Mudéjar coffered ceiling, decorated with zigzags and knots.

The walls of the large chapel are comprised of a series of blind pointed arches, constructed in brick with apertures in the upper parts. It is covered with a ribbed vault. Access to the lateral chapels is by means of pointed stone arches. One of the chapels, which has a lobed arch inside, is covered with a ribbed and gadrooned cupola, decorated with paintings of dragons and the shield of the founder, Don Diego García.

The stucco friezes were inspired by North-African Almoravid and Almohad buildings, which influenced Sevillian (the Alcázar of Sevilla) and Toledan Mudéjar buildings (Synagogue of El Transito and the Moor's Workshop). However, this is the only example of a Christian building with such friezes.