Iglesia Santa María Mayor

Southeast Cádiz Province & the Costa de la Luz


With its Renaissance door giving way to a hushed Gothic-Mudéjar cloister, this 16th-century Gothic-Renaissance beauty stands on the place of an old mosque. The interior shines for its 22-image, plateresque main altarpiece, completed in 1584, and its 17th-century Cristo del Perdón (Christ of Forgiveness) carving by Sevillan baroque sculptor Pedro Roldán. Detailed information panels are in Spanish, English and German.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Southeast Cádiz Province & the Costa de la Luz attractions

1. Arco de Belén

0.07 MILES

One of three still-standing Moorish-era gates that guard the upper old town, dating from the 10th to 13th centuries.

2. Castillo

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Crowning Medina Sidonia, this ruined castle sits on the most elevated point for miles around, on the site of a Roman military fortress turned 11th-century…

3. Plaza de España

0.16 MILES

Buzzy, cafe-sprinkled Plaza de España is dominated by Medina Sidonia's 17th-century, baroque-neoclassical ayuntamiento (town hall).

4. Museo Arqueológico

0.24 MILES

At the town-centre archaeology museum, you can see four well-preserved cryptoporticus and an underground Roman sewer gallery, plus the excavated 1st…

5. Walls

14.22 MILES

Enclosing the 40,000-sq-metre old town, Vejer’s imposing 15th-century walls are particularly visible between the Arco de la Puerta Cerrada (of 11th- or…

6. Casa del Mayorazgo

14.23 MILES

If the door’s open, pop into this private 18th-century house to find two stunning flower-filled patios (home to 450 potted plants!) and one of just three…

7. Museo de Vejer

14.24 MILES

Housed in a 17th- to 18th-century mansion, Vejer's museum has a small, impressive history and archaeology collection, running from the area's early…

8. Iglesia del Divino Salvador

14.25 MILES

Built atop an earlier mosque, this unusual church is 14th-century Mudéjar at the altar end and 16th-century Gothic at the other. In the late afternoon the…