The Old Church
Much more than a church
A renaissance treasure
trapped in time...
The most emblematic religious building in Miravet is the Old Church. A unique Renaissance temple in Terres de l’Ebre, a work of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
The Església Vella is one of the three declared monuments along with the castle and the palace of Miravet. It is used for cultural uses, concerts, exhibitions and guided tours. Also for original weddings.
The complex, built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to replace the old mosque, consists of the temple itself, the ajama headquarters and the Sanaqueta lookout square, the old cemetery.
Interior of the temple
It is impressive, upon entering, to see the state of abandonment in which it was left because of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
His work is humble and simple a priori, but it hides excellent proportions and some original decorative elements, as well as the later mural paintings.
The Romanesque altar
In its interior it preserves a real treasure.
The most sacred key piece of the Templars: the now Romanesque church of the castle, which contained the relics brought by the knights from the Holy Land.
Also the holy water sink.
The Moorish aljama
Behind the church, in the small square, is the headquarters of the Moorish ajama. It was part of the mosque complex, facing Mecca, with the sahn or ablutions courtyard.
The aljama was where the board of the Jewish and Moorish community (from the Arabic ŷāma’aʻ meaning ‘town hall’) met.
Visit the Old Church
A trip to the past just through the door
The guided visit to the Old Church is part of the Miravet Experience tour of the Cap de la Vila and the castle, including the Palau de Miravet with a wine tasting at the end.
Direct reservation of a visit at the following telephone numbers
The Renaissance temple
worthy of Brunelleschi
The building, in Renaissance style, was built between the XVI and XVII centuries by the Knights of the Order of the Hospital and consecrated to San Juan Bautista, its patron saint.
It is a temple with a cross plan and central nave with a semicircular vault, window openings, side chapels, central dome with shells in the transept and a rectangular altar with an oven vault.
A terrible story
an unjust expulsion
The mural paintings, of religious character, are later, from 1730, and correspond to the baroque period when, after the War of Succession, the temple was recovered (and the town, which suffered abandonment for seven years).
On the left wall of the transept there are two figures in black and white clothing. One carries the cross and the other the bible. They represent San Domingo de Guzmán and San Vicente Ferrer.
The disasters of war
the Battle of the Ebro
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) marks the most tragic episode.
During the anticlerical revolts of 1936, the Renaissance altarpieces and images in the Sanaqueta square were burned. The Virgin of Grace, the Templar, a Romanesque carving from the time of the Templars, was thrown into the river.
The subsequent Battle of the Ebro further affected the condition of the building.
