Priory Church of Santa María, the Church on the Mosque

Carmona's main church, Gothic, built on the former congregational mosque. You enter through the old mosque courtyard, the ablutions court, now the Patio de los Naranjos, and the church is the great landmark of Christian Carmona, on the Plaza del Marqués de las Torres, a few steps from the City Museum.

What you will see

The building follows the Gothic models of Seville cathedral: a hall plan with three aisles and chapels between the buttresses. It was built in two phases, in the 15th and 16th centuries. The first, from the west end to the choir, is fully Gothic; in the second Diego de Riaño was involved, who gave a Renaissance air to the bays of the east end. From the Baroque period remain the Puerta del Sol and the Sacramental chapel, and the late 19th-century refurbishments gave it its present appearance. The tower was begun in the 16th century and finished in the 19th.

Look in the courtyard for the Visigothic liturgical calendar engraved on the shaft of one of the columns. Inside, the high altarpiece by Juan Bautista Vázquez, from 1563, alternates scenes from the life of Jesus with Marian scenes. The star vault of the crossing, in the fourth bay of the central nave, the Flemish-style chapel of the Cristo de los Martirios and the Gothic carving of the Virgen de Gracia, the city's patron, are worth a stop. In the ante-sacristy there is an Immaculate Conception by Pedro Duque Cornejo, from 1724.

The main sacristy holds the treasury, with the processional monstrance made by Francisco Alfaro between 1579 and 1584. Since 1997 there has been a permanent exhibition room with silverwork, vestments and paintings by Zurbarán and Bocanegra.

Opening hours and admission

It costs €3, and €1.80 for pensioners and groups. In autumn it is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 17:00 to 19:00; on Sunday, from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 18:00 to 19:30, because of Masses. Closed on Mondays. Allow about 45 minutes.

What to combine it with

It is in the heart of the upper old town: head out to the Santa Clara convent and its sweets, or go down towards the Puerta de Córdoba. To eat without leaving the old town, El Tabanco is a short stroll away.