Description
On the site marked to this effect, 120 feet long and the same wide, the Parish Church was built in the place occupied by a small chapel dedicated to the Most Holy Sacrament. The construction contract is dated 24 March 1579.
The project is carried out by Mr Manuel Sancho Sánchez, a master of the quarry, in charge of the construction of a large mason called Mr Benito el Santo. The conditions are established among which the realization of two arches dances to separate the three ships of the temple, having each dance three arches, resulting in a total of nine sections. The main cover and the bell tower were carried out by the master of the quarry Mr Manuel Sancho Sánchez. The construction of the church had to be completed on a provisional basis in order to celebrate the Holy Offices. In 1618 the Major Retablo was built, destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, occupied the whole tester of the presbytery raised on pedestal with reliefs on two very high floors, was topped with an attic finished in a broken fronton with eardrum where the figure of the Eternal Father was holding the sphere of the world in his right hand.
Both floors and the attic marked three streets, being the largest central than the sides and separated with Corinthian columns even and advanced on the general plane of the altarpiece. On the side streets, reliefs were framed with scenes of the life of Jesus Christ and of the Virgin. The central street was occupied by a great Sagrario-manifestator on the second floor, a relief with the mystery of the Incarnation. The attic was presided over by a calvary with figures of Christ Crucified, the Virgin Ruins of a glorious past in and St. John. The figure of the Eternal Father closed the whole set that also had sculptures of Saints on the capitals and cornels. The side streets were topped with shields from Bishop D. Baltasar of Moscoso and Sandoval who ruled the Diocese in 1618. Its style was Renaissance in transition to Baroque, and it was decorated with elements of the time, but without too many ornaments. The presbytery was completed on its side walls, with two large oil-painted paintings.
The organ was placed in the choir in the middle of the 18th. The bells were installed in 1858. On the façade of the tower that gives to the main square and under the main bell, if it installed in 1906, a time clock with dial in Roman numbers, costed by the Board of repair of the temple and assigned to the City Council for its conservation; it is of the so-called "round system" with compensating pendulum. It was acquired from Mr Lorenzo Redondo, a neighbour of Cuenca.
He had a hammer that gave the hours in the bell. In the 1980s, the clock machinery was cancelled and an electronic device was placed in place to keep the hours and bells marked. In 1996, the old machinery was withdrawn, restored and is currently in an exhibitor in the Hall of Plenos of the City Hall.
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