Ex-Collegiate Church of the Virgen del Manzano

The Ex-Collegiate Church of Santa María del Manzano is located outside the walls to the east of the main nucleus, in the neighborhood of Manzano. It is a basilica church whose construction began in the early thirteenth century. It has three naves with five higher sections of the central nave, square chancel, Gothic façade with archivolts, rose window and Baroque finial. Both the first two bodies of the tower and the structure of the church, as well as the main entrance and the beautiful sculptures of the facades are from the founding period, the latter highlighting the theme of the annunciation on the main facade. In this same facade also highlights the spectacular rose window of the late fifteenth century with stained glass manufactured in Germany, a donation of Cardinal D. Iñigo López de Mendoza. The temple underwent major reforms in the 15th century with new vaults and in the 18th century with the elevation and finishing of the tower, the construction of the chapel of the dedication of the temple, as well as the remodeling of the chancel with the construction of the burials of the Counts of Castro, the main sacristy and the choir, orchestrated to a greater extent the last reforms by the architect Juan de Sagarbinaga. It was declared of cultural interest in 1974. At the entrance of the temple is the tomb of Doña Leonor de Castilla, aunt of King Pedro I El Cruel, ordered to be executed by him in 1359 in the castle of Castrojeriz, and was discovered in the 1970s in an arch that was covered. The interior houses altarpieces from the fifteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, highlighting especially the paintings of the largest, the work of the painters of the court of King Carlos III Anton Rafael Mengs, Francisco Bayeu and Salvador Maella. The sculpture of the Virgen del Manzano that is in the chapel of the same name is of the XIII century, is made of polychrome stone and is named in the cantigas of King Alfonso X the Wise. Since 2001 there is a spectacular exhibition of sacred art with works of the Villa among which stand out the gold and silver work such as monstrances, navetas, reliquaries, chalices, processional crosses; imagery of excellent carvings from the twelfth to the eighteenth century and paintings with names of authors such as Bartolomé Carducho.