HOSPITAL DE SANTIAGO

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  3. HOSPITAL DE SANTIAGO

We find ourselves before a building popularly known as “El Escorial of Andalucia”, due to its external resemblance to the famous Madrid monastery.
It was built in the 16th century at the behest of the Bishop of Jaén, Don Diego de los Cobos. He declared that it should be used for the care of the most disadvantaged, that it should have a chapel in which he would be buried upon his death, and that palatial rooms were to be built inside to accommodate patrons and servants.
In the Hospital de Santiago, erected by the architect Andrés de Vandelvira, the most striking feature is its diaphanous and harmonic Renaissance patio around which all the other rooms are distributed. From the patio you can access the chapel where the remains of the bishop who ordered the construction rest.
Crowning the facade of the building, which functioned as a hospital until 1975, is a relief of Santiago Matamoros. The Hospital is dedicated to him, since part of the family belonged to the Military Order of Santiago.
Legend has it that when the sword falls off the relief, Spain will be invaded again by the Muslims.

SIGN LANGUAGE


Simple Language
SIMPLE LANGUAGE

This building
is one of the finest Spanish Renaissance hospitals.
Andrés de Vandelvira constructed it in the 16th century,
by order of the Bishop of Jaén, Diego de los Cobos.
The building had three functions:
– Hospital, to care for the sick
– Palace, where the bishop lived
– Church-Pantheon where the bishop was buried
The facade is a grand wall with a doorway at the centre
above which is a relief of Santiago Matamoros.
Either side stand two large towers topped by domes.
The interior is built around a large patio
surrounded by columns and rounded arches.
From the patio we can access the church
which boasts another two tall bell towers.
In one corner there is a great staircase
decorated with paintings on its walls and ceiling.

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Contact information
Avenida De Cristo Rey 2, 23400 Úbeda, Jaén, Spain
953 750 842