Art and culture in Lorca

ANTIGUA COLEGIATA DE SAN PATRICIO

ANTIGUA COLEGIATA DE SAN PATRICIO

Among all the buildings of ecclesiastical character is without doubt the church of St. Patrick the most important. This temple is placed under the patronage…
Among all the buildings of ecclesiastical character is without doubt the church of St. Patrick the most important. This temple is placed under the patronage of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland) in remembrance and commemoration of the victory achieved in the Battle of the Alporchones, fought by the people of Lorca against the Muslims on March 17, 1452.
Its construction was carried out between 1536 and 1780 on the design of Jerónimo Quijano, master of the works of the Bishopric of Cartagena, so the entire interior, despite the long construction period, has a marked Renaissance air, logically more pronounced in the first spaces raised. Conceived with cathedral airs, its interior is articulated in three naves, lateral chapels between the buttresses, choir and trascoro, elevated transept, ambulatory with radial chapels and tower in the head that houses the sacristy inside. The facade and its union with the rest of the temple took place between 1694 and 1710 under the direction of José Vallés. With him a good number of the stonemasons present at Lorca participated: Ortiz de la Jara, Salvador and Diego de Mora, Sanchez Fortun, etc., who will appear in the following decades directing important works in the city. It is the headquarters of the Brotherhoods of the Curia, and of the Risen One, so that during Holy Week the patrimony exhibitions of these brotherhoods can be contemplated.