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Church of San Ginés

Church of San Ginés

Religious architecture

Opening hours: Mondays to Sundays, from 7 am to 11 pm.

Direction: Plaza de Santo Domingo, s/n, Guadalajara.

Telephone: 949 220 195

Web: Visit the website

South of the old city centre of Guadalajara is plaza de Santo Domingo. Today Santo Domingo is the centre of the city, though in olden times it stood outside the city walls and was known as the plaza del Mercado (the Market Place).

Free entry.

Calle Mayor street enters the plaza at the north end; Paseo del Doctor Fernandéz Iparraguirre, traditionally known as Paseo de las Cruces, enters on the east side; the west side of the square leads to the entrance of Parque de la Concordia; finally, at the south side calle Virgen del Amparo, a busy shopping street leads out of the square. The huge church of San Ginés rises up on this same south side.

The present church was once the convent church of Santo Domingo de la Cruz convent, long since demolished. Construction began in 1561. For a number of reasons, work was halted in 1566, so the present building is approximately half of what had been planned. In the enormous stone façade, the entrance is framed by two imposing buttresses crowned by bell-gables. Over the central rose window is the shield of the Order of Santo Domingo (Dominican Order).

The church has only one nave with side chapels. It holds four excellent examples of funerary sculpture: at the sides of the sanctuary stand the statues at prayer of the founders of the convent, Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza, seventh son of the Marques of Santillana, and his wife Juana de Valencia; in the side chapels, the tombs of the first counts of Tendilla, Iñigo López de Mendoza and Elvira de Quiñones in the 15th century. They were moved here in the 20th century from the Hieronomyte monastery of Santa Ana in Tendilla, which was later demolished.

Also in plaza de Santo Domingo, to one side among the trees, there is a statue to the Count of Romanones that merits attention. It is is the work of the sculptor Miguel Blay, and was erected in 1913 by subscription of Spanish teachers.

Accessibility

Exterior route without difficulties.

Count of Romanones Monument

To one side of the Santo Domingo Square, is a sculptor group erected in 1913 and dedicated to the Count of Romanones, in gratitude from teacher associations to Mr. Álvaro de Figueroa, Minister for Education and Fine Arts, which raised the Royal Decree dated on 26 October 1901. Thanks to this initiative, the salary of the teachers in the Public Schools and the costs of materials were included in the State General Budgets. Its first location was Los Caídos Square, in front of the Palace of El Infantado. It´s a masterpiece of Miguel Blay and Fábregas (Olot, 1866-Madrid, 1936) and has been restored in 2013.

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