Churches in Spain

Beside the Ronda Histórica, the Basílica de la Macarena is home to the Esperanza Macarena and her brotherhood, the stars of Seville's Madrugada in the early hours of Good Friday.

A small 18th-century street chapel beside the Postigo del Aceite, one of the few surviving reminders in Seville of popular devotion to the Immaculate Conception.

A church rebuilt on Ronda's Plaza del Socorro after the previous one was completely destroyed in 1936, bearing witness to the town's recent history.

A church in Ronda that still keeps its garden and its original 1585 building – a simple yet valuable testament to the town's past.

A neoclassical church that dominates Olvera's skyline from the Plaza de la Iglesia, with a monumental, crisply defined façade rising above the whole town.

A Gothic-style church built between the 15th and 16th centuries in Ronda, traditionally linked to the origins of Christianity in the town and formerly the parish church of Santa Cecilia.

One of Córdoba's Fernandine churches, built over a former mosque which in turn stands on the Roman forum: centuries of history layered on a single site.

A former church of the Discalced Trinitarians in Ronda, built in 1663 on the site of a hermitage and later turned into a parish church, with three centuries of layered history.

A Ronda church built over the city's former 13th-century great mosque, of which remains of the mihrab still survive: two religions and two eras in a single place.

At the very top of Vejer, within its walled precinct, this Mudéjar church built over a former mosque reveals two churches from different periods fused into one.

A late 15th-century church in one of Ronda's old quarters, notable for its uniformity and its transitional style between Gothic and Renaissance.

A Baroque church beside the Ebro that houses the jasper column venerated as the first Marian shrine in Christendom, along with Damián Forment's superb Renaissance altarpiece.

A late Gothic church from the 16th century in Sallent de Gállego, with star vaults and a tower that served as the village jail before becoming a bell tower.

Aínsa's Romanesque collegiate church, austere and monumental, regarded as one of the finest examples of Aragonese Romanesque in the Sobrarbe district.

A 12th-century Romanesque church in Uncastillo, built by Ramiro II of Aragon and famed for the sculpture on its south portal, attributed to the Master of Oloron.

A 17th-century Baroque parish church in La Fresneda, dedicated to Santa María la Mayor, or Our Lady of the Snows – an essential stop when exploring this corner of Teruel.

In Fuentes Claras, the hermitage of the Virgen de los Navarros is home to the village's most deeply rooted devotion, an essential stop for understanding the soul of this town in the province of Teruel.

A Neo-Romanesque church of pink limestone in Covadonga, built between 1877 and 1901 and raised to the rank of minor basilica in the same year it was completed.

Neo-Romanesque church and pantheon commissioned by Fortunato de Selgas next to La Quinta in El Pito, inaugurated in 1914 by Infanta Isabel de Borbón.

A Baroque church in Palma's old town, built in the late 16th century by the Trinitarians and now in the care of the Oratorians, offering a peaceful pause amid the narrow streets.

Sóller's parish church, protected as a Site of Cultural Interest, presides over the Plaça de la Constitució, the beating heart of life in this Majorcan town.

A Baroque church completed in 1774 in San Sebastián's Old Town, with a doorway that looks like a stone altarpiece and a unique view towards the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.

The Church of San Andrés is one of Sukarrieta's landmark buildings, and a good excuse to stop off in this Biscay village and explore it at a leisurely pace.

A Catholic church dedicated to Saint Andrew the Apostle in Villafranca de Estíbaliz, a small Alavese concejo within the municipality of Vitoria – ideal for a quiet stop.

A Catholic church dedicated to Saint Stephen in Subijana de Álava, a concejo within the municipality of Vitoria that invites you to discover rural Álava just a few kilometres from the capital.

The Church of San Martín de Tours, in the Gipuzkoan village of Alkiza, is a peaceful stop for anyone exploring the religious heritage of the Basque Country.

A Gothic church in Oñati that houses the Renaissance Pietà altarpiece, one of the finest in the Basque Country, and an unusual cloister with a river running through its courtyard.

The Church of San Pedro is one of the buildings that give Zumaia its character, a simple yet evocative stop for anyone exploring the Gipuzkoa coast.

A Gothic church in Getaria where the first General Assemblies of Gipuzkoa met, with floors on different levels, a splendid triforium and a passageway leading down to the harbour.

A single-nave Gothic church in Bermeo, built of sandstone ashlar, which surprises visitors with the richly decorated bosses and corbels beneath its rib vaults.

A church dedicated to Saint Eulalia of Mérida in Gámiz, one of the small rural districts within the municipality of Vitoria – a good excuse to leave the city behind and head out into the Álava countryside.

A 15th-century Gothic church at the entrance to Zarautz, with a remarkable main altarpiece and a monumental complex that holds the town's first necropolis.

A church dedicated to St Eulalia in Berrosteguieta, a small concejo within the municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz, ideal for a peaceful outing into the countryside around the capital of Álava.

A Gothic church built between the 13th and 15th centuries overlooking the Cantabrian Sea, beside the castle-lighthouse and harbour of Castro-Urdiales, and a highlight of the Northern Way.

Perched on a rocky outcrop beside the castle, this church towers over San Vicente de la Barquera and greets those walking the Camino del Norte from afar.

The Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana, a jewel of Cantabrian Romanesque and a stop on the coastal Way of St James, is so central to the town that it even gave Santillana del Mar its name.

Ávila's great Romanesque basilica, dedicated to the martyred siblings Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, is a World Heritage Site and one of the finest examples of the style in Spain.

A medieval fortified church in Grijalba, in the province of Burgos, declared a Site of Cultural Interest (Bien de Interés Cultural) in 1983: a place built as much for prayer as for resistance.

A Catholic church dedicated to St John the Baptist in the heart of Palenzuela's old town, and a fine excuse to explore the villages of El Cerrato in Palencia at a leisurely pace.

A Dominican convent church built between 1445 and 1616, where Philip II and Philip IV were baptised, in the heart of Valladolid's old royal quarter.

A 15th-century church built on the site of a former synagogue in Paredes de Nava, dedicated to Our Lady of Cantomenudo and renovated in the 17th century by the Balbuena family.

The Church of Santiago Apóstol in Calzada de los Molinos, Palencia, is a simple, authentic stop for anyone exploring the villages of Castile at an unhurried pace.

A jewel of Spanish Romanesque, San Isidoro in León houses a Royal Pantheon with original mural paintings and capitals that make it a unique piece of its era.

The Church of Santa María in Sigüenza is one of the stops worth noting down as you explore this town in the province of Guadalajara.

A Romanesque church on Sigüenza's Calle Mayor, built under Bishop Cerebruno, with a classical-looking doorway and the marks of centuries of history.

A Catholic church in Alarcón, in the province of Cuenca, dedicated to Saint Dominic of Silos and a natural stop for anyone exploring this town in Cuenca.

A Romanesque church with a perfect basilica plan in Taüll, the jewel of the Vall de Boí and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, together with the valley's other Romanesque churches.

A small Lombard Romanesque church in the heart of the Vall de Boí, a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the valley's other Romanesque churches.

Cardona's Gothic parish church, right in the heart of the town's old quarter, is an essential stop for anyone exploring the Bages with an interest in heritage.

A Lombard Romanesque church in Sant Sadurní d'Osormort, a small village in the comarca of Osona that deserves an unhurried stop.

A gem of the First Romanesque in Catalonia, built between 1029 and 1040 within the walled precinct of Cardona Castle and still in perfect condition today.

A Lombard Romanesque church in Erill la Vall, in the Vall de Boí, forming part of the ensemble declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

Entry pending: the reference text is about Roses and provides no details on the church of Santa Helena de Rodes, though it does cover the Greek past of its surroundings.

The Church of Santa Maria stands at the heart of Castellar de n'Hug, in the Berguedà: a simple stop for anyone exploring the villages of this Catalan comarca at a leisurely pace.

A Romanesque church consecrated in 1123 in the heart of Taüll's old quarter, one of the churches of the Vall de Boí designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, a stone forest of a temple under construction since 1882 that is now the tallest church in the world and the crowning jewel of Catalan Modernisme.

A Baroque church in Jerez de los Caballeros that surprises visitors with its lavish decoration and vivid colour, listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural since 2013.

A Baroque church right in the heart of Jerez de los Caballeros, and a natural stop for anyone exploring this town in the south of the province of Badajoz on foot.

A 15th-century Gothic church in Garrovillas de Alconétar, bearing witness to the medieval past of this town in the province of Cáceres and still part of its parish life.

A 15th-century church in Monroy that hosts Las Purificás every 2 February, one of the best-preserved Candlemas festivals in the province of Cáceres.

In the very heart of Alcántara, this church built on the site of a former mosque hides Romanesque traces beneath its Baroque appearance and sums up eight centuries of history.

A late 19th-century Neo-Gothic church in Placeres, Lourizán, built on the site of an earlier chapel at the end of the bar of the port of Pontevedra.

A rural Romanesque church dating from the late 12th and early 13th centuries in Betanzos, among the best-preserved of its period in the province of A Coruña.

A church in Betanzos declared a national monument and a site of cultural interest (Bien de Interés Cultural), and an essential stop for anyone exploring the heritage of A Coruña.

Ezcaray's main church, a Gothic building raised between the 14th and 16th centuries that still preserves the tower and other remains of the Romanesque parish church on which it was built.

A late Gothic church from the 16th century that crowns San Vicente de la Sonsierra, set within the village's old walled enclosure alongside the medieval castle and the Hermitage of the Vera Cruz.

Right in the heart of Pamplona's Old Town, this ancient parish church houses the 18th-century Chapel of San Fermín, the devotional heart of the city.

Estella's principal church since 1256, with a Romanesque cloister dating from around 1170 whose capitals bear the artistic imprint of the Way of St James.

A mid-12th-century Romanesque church in Olleta, in the heart of the Valdorba, with a tower at its west end, a polygonal crossing tower and a deep semicircular apse.

A Valencian Gothic church built in Burriana after the conquest by James I, a monument in stone to his first great victory and now a minor basilica.

Known as the Cathedral of the Mariola, the Church of the Assumption is Bocairent's great place of worship and one of the most remarkable buildings in the Serra de Mariola.