Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Expectación

The canvas, property of D. Jerónimo de Sanvítores y de la Portilla, accidentally arrives at this town after being named, this nobleman from Burgos, mayor of Guadix. It was a copy of the Christ of Burgos, a carving that is venerated today in the cathedral of that city. The story of a series of miraculous events spread through eastern Andalusia, and once the canvas is donated to this parish, many pilgrims will come to it, generating a high amount of donations that, well managed, accelerated the pace. of the construction.

The process of building and furnishing the temple is very extensive, not ending until the beginning of the 19th century with the construction of the sacristy. The works begin with the feet; thus, well into the seventeenth century, the main facade and the first two sections of the tower, the choir and the first two side chapels, had been raised. In the 18th century, the head (where the altar is located), the body of bells and the two remaining side chapels were erected. For Lázaro Gila Medina, whom we follow in this text, we are facing an interesting example of Andalusian Baroque, although in some specific details, neoclassicism emerges.

The plant is a Latin cross inscribed in a rectangle, called for that reason "drawer", typical of the Baroque. It rises under the invocation of La Expectación de María, and since 1637 it is also a sanctuary of Stº. Christ of Burgos. Throughout the 20th century it suffered the loss of many of its movable assets, a good part of the paintings and the altarpieces in the side chapels, which are not preserved. However, the church was declared a national historical-artistic monument (Real. D. 3306/1981); today, Asset of Cultural Interest. The documentation of the parish archive, from the same sixteenth century, is preserved in its entirety.