Logbook · 11 places

Church of Santa María de Ontinyent

Ontinyent, La Vall d'Albaida, Valencia

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Nature · 3 Activities · 2 Curiosities

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Church of Santa María de Ontinyent

Monument · Ontinyent, La Vall d'Albaida, Valencia

The church of Santa María, in the old town of Ontinyent (Vall d'Albaida), combines Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles, and its bell tower, 72 metres tall, is the highest in the Comunitat Valenciana. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1974, it stands on an earlier temple, itself built on an old mosque, which the earthquake of 1258 badly damaged; the present building, in Valencian Gothic style, was erected between the 14th and 15th centuries. Its façade combines different periods, from the Plateresque doorway of 1530 to the Neoclassical one of the chapel; inside it preserves a 15th-century Flemish altarpiece of the Annunciation, the original Gothic baptismal font and 20th-century carvings by Marià Benlliure. The bell tower began to be built in 1689 and took twenty years, later suffering the earthquake of 1748.

Photo: decar66 from Aix-en-Provence, France (CC BY 2.0)

What to see and do in Ontinyent