Magdalena Church

A tombstone on its façade reminds us that Fray Bartolomé de las Casas was consecrated here as bishop of Chiapas in 1544. The oldest architectural vestiges, from medieval times, are concentrated in the apse and in the chapel of the Dulce Nombre de Jesús, which preserves three formidable vaults of lacerías on trumpets. The rest of the building is the result of the reconstruction undertaken by Leonardo de Figueroa between 1691 and 1709, in the most exultant Baroque style.

The artistic heritage that is treasured in its interior impresses for its richness and aesthetic qualification. Its spectacular cycle of mural paintings, which is an exaltation of the Order of Preachers and the apostolic college as pillars of the Church, is due to the brushes of Lucas Valdés and Clemente de Torres. The main altarpiece, assembled during the first third of the XVIII century and in whose sculptural tasks Pedro Duque Cornejo probably intervened, must be considered the second in proportions of our city, only surpassed by the one of the Cathedral of Seville. In other collateral altarpieces are housed sculptures and paintings, highlighting two masterpieces by Zurbarán (Santo Domingo en Soriano and the miraculous healing of Blessed Reginaldo de Orleans) that are exposed in the sacramental chapel, as well as several canvases of Valdés Leal, in the Dulce Nombre de Jesús.