Iglesia Fortaleza Santa Caterina Mártir

Religious

The Santa Catalina parish church was built to serve not only as a church but also as a fortress where the local people could take refuge from attacks by Berber pirates. Nowadays you will notice that there are two separate parts: an older part dating back to the 16th century and a number of extensions, some of which date back to the 18th century, and some of which are modern. The older part of the church has a single nave that faces east. There are four sections with chapels between the buttresses. Architectural features of this construction feature a barrel vault with tierceron vaulting and a five-sided polygonal apse with a star-shaped vault bearing the parish coat of arms. Recent research has uncovered that Joan Cambra, an important architect who worked on significant buildings such as the churches in Pego and San Miguel de los Reyes in Valencia was almost certainly involved in the design of this church. The first extension, in the 18th century, attempted to create a Latin cross by prolonging the Gothic layout. The main altar was also moved to face west rather than east, and a neoclassical door called the 'Porta Nova' was added. All the fortress-like characteristics of the building were removed. All that is left these days is a small stretch of wall at the back of the church. This first modification was followed by the construction of the capilla de la Comunión (Communion Chapel), which has been devoted to St Vicente Ferrer. It contains a relic of this saint and a dressed statue from the 18th century. New sacristy rooms were built between the 19th and 20th centuries. A new bell tower was built in around 1895. This bell tower is a good example of the traditional hexagonal towers built in medieval times. The perimeter of the base measures 24 metres and it is 31 metres high. The church contains a valuable Romantic-style organ created by a Valencia company called Successors de Randeynes a caballo between the 19th and 20th centuries. The church was restored in 1979.