Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua

The Church of San Antonio de Padua is the parish church of Frigiliana (Malaga), located in the historic center of the town, next to the traditional layout of the village and in the surroundings of the Moorish quarter of Barribarto. The sources identify it as a temple of strong historical-artistic value within the cultural landscape of the Axarquia, associated with the Christian conquest of the ancient Andalusian farmhouse. The parish was built in the seventeenth century; some references place its origin in a previous church of the fifteenth century on the same site, although the current construction corresponds mainly to the sixteenth century. Its architecture is described as simple and elegant, with features of Renaissance tradition and later reformed, so it can be understood as a transitional building between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among its most outstanding elements are the whitewashed façade, the three-part bell tower and the Latin cross plan. The interior is organized in three naves, with a choir loft at the base, and preserves an image closely linked to the local identity. The consulted documentation also underlines its symbolic role as one of the main religious and patrimonial landmarks of Frigiliana.