Iglesia parroquial de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación

Pasaje la Iglesia, 2. 23260, Castellar How to get

The tower, the oldest monument in the town, served as the defense of a primitive Visigothic and later Moorish fortification, protogothic, begun in the 14th century, built in the old defensive enclosure, taking advantage of previous elements such as the tower converted into a bell tower, passing after the reconquest to play the emblematic role of bell tower of the church erected between the XIII-XIV centuries.

The tower is projected to the outside by means of a volume of square plant attached to the feet of the temple. This has a basilica plan with three naves separated by pointed arches with an oculus on their vertices, lowered on polygonal supports with capitals of great diversity and richness in their work, of Protoromanic inspiration. The roof of the central nave is flat, made up of girders that alight on dogs. This same roof can be seen in the aisles, although with a slight inclination towards the perimeter walls. On the left it shows the addition of two bodies, one with a quadrangular plan and the other with a rectangular plan. In the wing of the Gospel there are two chapels-niches, the one closest to the presbytery area has a rectangular floor plan and is covered by a half-barrel vault with false transverse arches that come down on corbels. After a pointed arch you enter the dressing room covered by a half orange dome on pendentives. The transept and part of the sacristy were renovated in the 17th century.

In 1952 its roof was rebuilt, raising its walls about two meters. The presbytery, with a flat front, is linked by the basilica floor plan through three arches, supported by powerful square-section stone pillars, whose central span offers greater height and light than the lateral ones. Parallel to the presbyteral area is the Sacristy covered by a barrel vault with four lunettes and in which the only existing shield of the moment is preserved, whose heraldry reflects the arms of Bishop Baltasar Moscoso y Sandoval (1619-1646).

Externally, the church has a baroque façade on the main façade (carved from the 17th century onwards) with a semicircular arch, sketched molding and keystone highlighted with acanthus. On the sides it is flanked by two free-standing columns on plinths decorated with a diamond point. It is finished off by a split pediment where its vertices are crowned by pinnacles with balls. At the foot of the temple there is a postern of the primitive Moorish castle made up of a semi-circular frame with wide voussoirs, framed by a rectangular alfiz.

It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), with the category of monument, by Decree 226/1992, of December 30, 1992, under the protection of the generic Declaration of the Decree of April 22, 1949, and Law 16 / 1985 on the Spanish Historical Heritage.