Plaza de San Jorge and San Francisco Javier church

What it is

The square of the city's patron saint, a step from Plaza de los Golfines and the Golfines de Abajo palace, dominated by the steps and façade of the church of San Francisco Javier. It is named after Saint George because Alfonso IX entered Cáceres on 23 April 1229, the saint's day, and he has been the city's patron ever since.

The church of San Francisco Javier

It was built by the Society of Jesus in the 18th century, beside its college, and together they form a Baroque complex that dominates a good part of the old town. It is also known as the Preciosa Sangre. The façade has columns with composite capitals and a broken pediment under a balcony; in the centre, a semicircular arch frames the niche with the saint's image, and on each side rises a square tower with a pyramidal top.

Inside it has a single nave with side chapels. The high altarpiece has two Corinthian columns and between them a canvas with the miracle of the crab, one of the episodes in the life of Saint Francis Xavier. In the crypt is the Cáceres Holy Week Interpretation Centre. The old Jesuit college is now the seat of the Extremadura Higher School of Dramatic Art.

Turismo de Extremadura gives the church's hours as every day from 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:30 to 19:30, with the phone number 927 25 57 65. It does not publish the price; ask at the tourist office on the Plaza Mayor, which also has the day's summer hours. Entry is included in the Activa Tours full tour.

The festival of Saint George

The square is the stage of the patron saint's festival, on 23 April, which commemorates the reconquest of the city and mixes history and legend. According to Turespaña, that week there are re-enactments of the battle between Moors and Christians, processions to the shrine of the Virgin of the Mountain, a bonfire contest and the search for the golden hens through the city; the central event, the burning of the dragon, takes place in the Plaza Mayor. That day some museums of the monumental city close, such as the Golfines de Abajo palace.

How to visit

The square is free, day and night, and you can pass through with a dog on a lead. From the Santa María co-cathedral it is a few minutes' walk along cobbled, sloping streets. Allow half an hour for the square and the church.

A corner of House of the Dragon

For the first season of House of the Dragon, Cáceres once again stood in for King's Landing. Turismo de Extremadura counts up to 25 corners of the old town in the filming and names this square along with Callejón del Gallo, San Mateo, Cuesta de la Compañía, Las Veletas and Calle Amargura. The San Francisco Javier steps and the statue of the saint slaying the dragon were there before the series.