The Church of La Victoria or the Church of the Convent of San Francisco de Paula is a provincial

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church located on the street: ''Alameda de la Cruz'' of the town of Alcalá de los Gazules, province of Cádiz, autonomous community of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, Spain.

History

The church was erected in the 17th-century, with construction completed in 1682. Like many Franciscan churches in Andalusia, it was dedicated to the Marian devotion of ''Santa Maria de la Victoria'', or ''Holy Mary of the Victory'', in gratitude and commemoration to the donation of the '' Ermita de Santa María de la Victoria de Malaga'' to the order of Minims by

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

, the conquerors of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. The church has a single nave with a dome at the crossing. The dome has a frescoed floral design inscribed in the center with the Franciscan motto of ''Charity''. The nave walls have pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The main altar (1797) was sculpted in wood by Sebastián de Aguilar y Castaneda. The central icon of the ''Virgin of the Victory'' can be moved to display a gilded sun symbol. The icon is flanked by San Miguel and San Idelfonso. The chapel of the Sagratio has a wooden statue of ''Jesus Nazarene'' by José Montes de Oca (1668-1748). The image is used in holy week processions. Next to this chapel is a small image of the ''Virgen de los Santos'', Patron of the town of Alcalá de los Gazules.Tourism office of Alcalá de los Gazules
, entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Church of La Victoria, Alcala de los Gazules 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Churches in Andalusia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1682 1682 establishments in Spain