Nothing remains of the primitive hermitage, since throughout the 16th century and on the foundations of it, a sanctuary was built, much of it destroyed during the last Civil War (1936-1939). The siege and defense of the Sanctuary of the Virgen de Cabeza was magnified by the Franco regime.

In 1945 the architect Prieto Moreno, curator of the Alhambra, directed the restoration works of the architectural complex, which became one of the most precious symbols of the national-Catholicism of the dictator Francisco Franco. The pilgrimage continues to be celebrated, as is custom and tradition, on the last Sunday in April, although the image that is venerated, carved by the Granada-born sculptor Navas Parejo, is not the original one, since it disappears in strange and still unclear circumstances in the aforementioned contest.

Thanks to the Book of Cabildos de la Cofradía (1554-1565), kept in the Diocesan Archive of Jaén (made known by J. Domínguez, R. Frías and S. Lázaro), we know numerous data on the level of the works of the new Renaissance church during these years, although the process began years ago; The new factory began at the head, building the large chapel between 1534 and 1541 according to a late Gothic plan, being separated from the rest by a beautiful Renaissance-style grille. The works of the rest of the temple passed through different hands and circumstances.

In 1555 the master stonemason Domingo de Azpeitia undertook to build a temple with three naves with columnar supports, however, at the express wish of the prelate Don Diego Tavera (1555-1560) this approach was radically transformed, prohibiting the execution of the pillars. Don Diego Tavera sent Andrés de Vandelvira to give new plans for the church, as noted in the minutes of April 27, 1558 of the aforementioned Book of Cabildos. Vandelvira eliminated the pillars with the idea of ??projecting a different, larger church, with a single nave with chapels-niches open to it. In 1559, Vandelvira visited the works and presented new plans for their completion, as well as the design of the main facade.

For less than a year the construction was under the control of Francisco del Castillo “El Mozo”, and even the Brotherhood even required a certain report from Hernán Ruiz II. In 1562 a new inspection of Andrés de Vandelvira was requested by the Brotherhood, but he did not respond. In any case, the project continued with the stonemasons proposed by Vandelvira, Juan Martínez and Domingo de Jay, who executed the remainder following the guidelines and the plant devised by the Master.

This should have been the case, according to the description that Salcedo de Olid made of the temple in the seventeenth century: "It has a nave without columns (...) and the main chapel is distinguished, majestic and most colorful." Due to the remains preserved after its destruction in 1936, the Vandelvirian temple actually contemplated a church with a wide nave, covered with a half-barrel vault and niche chapels, which was separated from the main chapel by a powerful main arch. From the outside, quite compact, only the façade of the feet is remarkable with three elements on their axis: portal, balcony and belfry. The ornamental nudity of the ensemble is contemporary with Andrés de Vandelvira's last work.

OTHER NON-ARCHITECTURAL ARTISTIC MANIFESTATIONS.

In the Sanctuary a Museum with diverse and varied pieces of uneven artistic quality has been installed. Among all of them we highlight two paintings from the 17th century with representations of the famous Pilgrimage of Our Lady of the Head, an image lost in the last Civil War of 1936-1939. After the war, a new carving was commissioned from the Navas Parejo workshops in Granada, which is the one that has been venerated since then in the Cabezo. One of the few pieces saved from the destruction of the said Sanctuary was the grating of the main chapel, restored in 1941 at the Granada School of Arts and Crafts. Hired in 1564, it represents the appearance of the Virgin to the shepherd of Colomera.