Real Church of Santa Marina de Aguas Santas - Cordoba

The Church of Santa Marina de Aguas Santas one of the so-called Fernandine churches, ie those built by King Ferdinand III of Castile, known as the Saint, after the conquest of the city from the Hispano Muslims in the 13th century.

The architecture combines Proto-Gothic, Mudejar and, to a lesser extent, late Romanesque formulas and elements. It is home to the Brotherhood of the Risen Christ.
The church, one of the oldest of the Fernandine group, was built in the second half of the 13th century.

On June 23 , 1880, the church was hit by a fire , which damaged it considerably and necessitated a two-year reconstruction. Worship was resumed on July 17, 1882. In the 19th and 20th centuries - the last time in 1998 - several restorations were carried out to restore the medieval appearance of the building, which was obscured by the Baroque alterations carried out to repair the damage of two earthquakes , one in 1680 and the other in 1755, to restore.

The church is rectangular or basilica-shaped and divided into three naves. The original coffered ceiling was covered with a false groin vault in the middle of the 16th century at the initiative of Bishop Domingo de Pimentel.

The main facade, which appears solid, is characterized by four strong and asymmetrical buttresses. It also has a rose window, characteristic of the Fernandine churches of Cordoba. The bell tower, erected in the 16th century and attached to the right gable end.

In the epistle nave (right) is the sacristy, which was built in the 15th century as a burial chapel of the Orozco family . Around 1630, the architect Sebastián Vidal changed the apse on the side of the Gospel in the chapel of Benavides , adapting it to the prevailing taste of the time.

The altarpiece in the main chapel has paintings by Antonio del Castillo and statues, such as the Virgen de la Luz by the Cordovan sculptor Gómez de Sandoval. In the church are the processional statues of the brotherhood of Nuestro Señor Resucitado and Nuestra Señora de la Alegría.

Willem Vandenameele