Sobre este lugar
The Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor is the principal church of La Ciudad, the old Moorish town of Ronda, standing on a handsome square that was once the heart of the Muslim city. It was built, as so often in Spain, directly on the site of the former main mosque, after the Christian conquest of Ronda in 1485. Built and rebuilt over the following centuries, partly after earthquake damage, it is a rich mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, with a fine bell tower that incorporates the old Moorish minaret. Inside, it preserves a precious and poignant survival: a fragment of the mosque's mihrab, the niche that indicated the direction of Mecca, with its delicate Arabic inscriptions, left in place as a reminder of the building's Islamic origins. With its carved choir stalls, gilded altars and layers of history, the church is a fitting centrepiece for the old town.
Datos clave
- 1485 year — The church was built after the Christian conquest of Ronda, over the main mosque
- 1 mihrab — A fragment of the old mosque's prayer niche survives inside the church
- 1 tower — The bell tower incorporates the minaret of the former mosque
📍 Callejón de los Tramposos, 29400, Ronda