Church of San Marco - Jerez de la Frontera - Andalusia

The church is part of one of the six parishes founded in the 13th century in the area within the city walls.

The construction of the current building can be dated to the mid-14th century , as evidenced by the style of the polygonal apse and the Mudéjar door on the Gospel side, the oldest part of the building, according to some authors . It may have been built on the site of an earlier Muslim mosque.

This parish church has a special link with the history of the city , since the meetings presided over by the Duke of Medina Sidonia took place here to put an end to the conflicts between the nobles of Jerez.

The exterior of the church is very plain and has three facades, with a main facade at the foot of the 16th-century Mannerist style church, with cushioned pilasters flanking the entrance door, which is crowned at the top with a niche containing in the middle a simple straight divided pediment.

Illustrious citizens of Jerez, such as Diego Fernández de Herrera, are buried in the crypt .

Of the halls and chapels of this church , the sacristy, covered with a 16th-century star vault , and the baptistery, covered with a cross vault over trumpets and accessible through a semicircular arch framed by an alfiz with mocarnes taxes special attention

The main importance of the chapels of the temple lies in its repertoire of Mudejar forms, a clear example of the possibilities of the medieval architecture of Jerez.

The Chapel of the Sagrari is a Baroque work, executed in the second half of the 18th century, with a grille dated 1795, already in the neoclassical period, to which style the altarpiece of this chapel belongs.

The highlight of this church is the main altarpiece, which occupies the entire polygonal apse.

It is a beautiful example of 17th century Baroque, where a remarkable collection of pictorial panels of different sizes and formats from the 16th century, representing various scenes from the Gospels and saints, is organized and exhibited, amidst an elegant golden wood architecture full of decorative details; Above the two main bodies rises a spectacular attic with tables placed between carved pilasters that support a movable cornice full of ornaments, all crowned by large pinnacles and shields intertwined by the star-shaped vault that covers and closes the enclosure

The parish church of Sant Marc also has a small statue of the Virgin of Bethlehem from the end of the 15th century in its rich repertoire of furniture.

Willem Vandenameele