Santa Cruz Church

It is the only one remaining of the six parishes that were built after the conquest by Ferdinand III (Baeza capitulation, 1227).

It is in late Romanesque style, and is located opposite the Jabalquinto Palace and the Old University.

Most experts suggest that this church belonged to the Order of the Temple.

It was considered a parish until the 19th century. Initially, it housed the parish of the cathedral's sanctuary (which was relocated). Later, it served as an auxiliary chapel of the parish of El Salvador. It was assaulted at the start of the Spanish Civil War and restored in 1950, with the addition of the west doorway, which came from the ruins of the Romanesque church of San Juan Bautista.

Its floor plan comprises three naves separated by original cylindrical pillars, and with an apse at the chevet, preceded by a wide rectangular section, which opens onto two chapels.

Four pointed arches rest on its pillars. Its side walls are smooth, with only doorways, chapels, and the triumphal arch leading to the chancel - the area around the main altar - at the chevet.

The original roof covering the naves was Mudejar style, but was renovated in 1575 and later restored to its original appearance with a neutral wooden structure.

The chancel is covered with a quarter-barrel vault and the fore-chancel with a pointed barrel vault.

The right chapel opening onto the chancel is square-shaped, with a horseshoe arch entrance. The other chapel, the left one, is also square-shaped and opens with a pointed arch, covered with a simple Gothic ribbed vault. Both were added post-construction.

The walls and interior arches are covered with frescoes depicting Saint Sebastian and the Virgin nursing the Child, under a canopy on the intrados of the arch. Inside, it depicts Saint Catherine. All paintings are late Gothic and today preserve their colours quite faded. In worse condition are the pictorial themes in the central apse, dating from the 15th century.

Externally, the masonry wall with irregular ashlar work is visible. The South and West facades are notable. The former is original to the temple, while the latter comes from the Romanesque church of San Juan. These doorways are splayed, presenting three semicircular archivolts, resting on columns and decorated with chevron and vegetal motifs. The jambs contain three pairs of columns, from whose acanthus-leaf capitals the archivolts spring.

The doorway from the Parish of San Juan has slight variations. It presents a slight pointing at the start of the archivolts, and fantastic cardina decoration with dragons and other animals on the impost. Above it, a rose window is preserved whose decoration in its splaying is similar to that of the Baeza cathedral.

Following the restoration carried out in this church in 1990, a Visigothic horseshoe arch was found next to the epistle. This arch is formed by smooth voussoirs and an archivolt. There is a theory about this discovery that the Church of Santa Cruz was built on a Mozarabic Christian temple.