St. Augustine Church · Almagro (EN)

The church of San Agustín, or Santísimo Sacramento, which once belonged to the convent of the Santísimo Sacramento founded by the order of St. Augustine, dates from the first half of the eighteenth century and is one of the most significant examples of the fullness of the Baroque period in Ciudad Real. When the visitor enters the church he can contemplate without interruption the monumentality of the space. A single nave, presided over by an imposing dome, generates a marked visual axis that culminates in the presbytery. To the presbytery opens a small chapel, a singular space typical of the Hispanic Baroque, which accentuates the effect of depth. The interior exudes beauty and balance, as its structure is based on modules that are repeated creating classical proportions. Added to this is the special luminosity of the whole. The changing effects of the natural light that penetrates through the windows, opened in the lunettes of the vault, enhance the spiritual atmosphere created by the paintings of the temple. Its pictorial decoration is an excellent example of the use of art during the Baroque period as a means to move and persuade the faithful. It is also one of the most outstanding iconographic cycles in the province, full of symbols, including hearts with arrows, bundles of wheat, bunches of grapes, suns and moons, in clear allusion to the title of the convent. Behind them, there is a deep religious meaning that the visitor will be able to discover as he enters the building. The church survived the convent, which disappeared some time after being disentailed in 1835, and suffered damages throughout its history; in particular, visible are those suffered during the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, or the destruction of its main altarpiece, among other elements, during the Civil War. It preserves, however, an excellent group of mural paintings in tempera with Augustinian themes. After the restoration of 2021, the space has been musealized and the chapel of the Virgin and one of its towers have been opened for visits, offering a unique view of the Plaza Mayor. This monument has been catalogued as an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1993.