Church of Saint Mary (Conesa)

In Conesa's main square, the Church of Santa María invites you to discover a Gothic building with details worth taking your time to appreciate. Built of ashlar masonry, it has a single nave, a flat apse, and a Moorish tile roof. The entrance is set beneath an archway, forming a portico, while the rectangular bell tower, crenellated and adorned with gargoyles over the drains, reaches a height of 28 meters.

Inside, there are three side chapels: the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, with a dome and lantern; the Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph Chapel; and the Our Lady of Mercy Chapel. If you look closely, you'll find the image of the Virgin with the Child Jesus and the coat of arms of Catalonia on the vault keystones.

The choir is also worth a look: it rests on a low arch topped with two volutes, where you can see the date 1622. The paintings, arcades, and images complete the temple's points of interest.

The parish is already mentioned in the 11th century, in a list of parishes of the Diocese of Vic. In 1335, the construction contract was signed with Guillem Pedrola, master builder from Guimerà. Work was interrupted in 1344, and the church was consecrated while still lacking a bay of the vault. Construction was completed in 1347, although the project was not finished: of the three arches planned for the nave, only two were built.

Construction of the bell tower began in 1399, the work of master builder Pere Oriol of Montblanc. The church underwent renovations in the 16th century, and a chapel was added in the 17th. The complex is well-preserved, and the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament was restored in 2001.

Photo: "Portico of the church of Conesa", by Angela Llop (2011), via Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 2.0 license.