Sanctuary Fuensanta
In the eastern part of Córdoba, on ancient fruit gardens, born the popular sectio
of the Fuensanta, whose name is related to the virgin of all the cordovans. As it is logical it has its sanctuary.
In front of the church there is a part built to protect a well where as the legend tells, a little statue, representing the Fuensanta, was discovered. Fuensanta is "Fuente Santa" (Saint Fountain). A wall made with tiles, put in 1949, tell in a graphic way how was discovered the saint , which was seen with Saint Acisclus and Saint Victory. They appeare to the humble wool keeper Gonzalo García in 1420:
"In this beneran site, near the holy source from which nature had created a lush cabrahigo, in whose trunk contained the sacred image that it is worshiped in this holy temple, and It hid a Christian at the entrance of the Moors in Córdoba; going down this road a man devoted to the Queen of Heaven, named Gonzalo García, tired and troubled by having his wife paralyzed, and his daughter mad. He appeared this sovereign Lady accompanied ... and She sent him to take water from this source to his wife and daughter and they would have health, fulfilling the mandate and they were suddenly free of their disease. Year of 1420".
The little porch that keeps the well is made with a squared plan and three parts opened with pointed arches, the fourth arch is closed and it has a niche inside it with the inscription. It is covered by a rib vault and
its nerves are put on lttle mantelpieces decorated with the four evangelists. The ri of the well was don by Mateo Inurria Lainosa.
The church was restored a lot of times the last one was in 1976. The restoration carried out in 1646 altered the primitive structure of the church substituting it by another baroque. The façade is made in bricks and it has a bell tower with three arches for the bells. The entrance is made in stones, it has three parts: a triangular pediment a little balcony and a circular pediment, anding with a circular oculus.
The lateral doors are gothic carried out in stones with a pinted arch framed with alfiz. At the end of the XVII Century a porch was added to the lateral façade hat links the court, with six
brick arches on stones columns. This was made to protect the devotes that are in the caiman, the big teeth and the ribs of a whale.
The temple has a rectangular plan with three naves, with three parts f pointed arches put on crossshape pillars, with gothic mudejar style. To the main chapel you can enter through a big pointed arch and it is covered by a rib gothic vault. In the walls the headstones that speak about the
appearance of the Virgin Mary.
There is a little room of the XVII Century that keeps the Virgin of the Fuensanta. You can reach it through a red marble staircase. The vault are covered with gypsum.
One of the most important chapel is the one of Saint Agnes with the Virgin child and near the Ecce Homo and a Dolorosa. Besides on the table there is a wooden case of Saint Cross. On the other hand, the chapel of the head of the epistle part, named Chapel of the Tabernacle or Christ of Mercedes, keeps different paintings, fresco, that represent the angels of Passion in the vault, they were painted by Antonio del Castillo Saavedra.
At the entrance of the church you can find two chapels: Saint Joseph Chapel and the Christ of the Humilladero Chapel, both buit at the beginning of the XX Century.
of the Fuensanta, whose name is related to the virgin of all the cordovans. As it is logical it has its sanctuary.
In front of the church there is a part built to protect a well where as the legend tells, a little statue, representing the Fuensanta, was discovered. Fuensanta is "Fuente Santa" (Saint Fountain). A wall made with tiles, put in 1949, tell in a graphic way how was discovered the saint , which was seen with Saint Acisclus and Saint Victory. They appeare to the humble wool keeper Gonzalo García in 1420:
"In this beneran site, near the holy source from which nature had created a lush cabrahigo, in whose trunk contained the sacred image that it is worshiped in this holy temple, and It hid a Christian at the entrance of the Moors in Córdoba; going down this road a man devoted to the Queen of Heaven, named Gonzalo García, tired and troubled by having his wife paralyzed, and his daughter mad. He appeared this sovereign Lady accompanied ... and She sent him to take water from this source to his wife and daughter and they would have health, fulfilling the mandate and they were suddenly free of their disease. Year of 1420".
The little porch that keeps the well is made with a squared plan and three parts opened with pointed arches, the fourth arch is closed and it has a niche inside it with the inscription. It is covered by a rib vault and
its nerves are put on lttle mantelpieces decorated with the four evangelists. The ri of the well was don by Mateo Inurria Lainosa.
The church was restored a lot of times the last one was in 1976. The restoration carried out in 1646 altered the primitive structure of the church substituting it by another baroque. The façade is made in bricks and it has a bell tower with three arches for the bells. The entrance is made in stones, it has three parts: a triangular pediment a little balcony and a circular pediment, anding with a circular oculus.
The lateral doors are gothic carried out in stones with a pinted arch framed with alfiz. At the end of the XVII Century a porch was added to the lateral façade hat links the court, with six
brick arches on stones columns. This was made to protect the devotes that are in the caiman, the big teeth and the ribs of a whale.
The temple has a rectangular plan with three naves, with three parts f pointed arches put on crossshape pillars, with gothic mudejar style. To the main chapel you can enter through a big pointed arch and it is covered by a rib gothic vault. In the walls the headstones that speak about the
appearance of the Virgin Mary.
There is a little room of the XVII Century that keeps the Virgin of the Fuensanta. You can reach it through a red marble staircase. The vault are covered with gypsum.
One of the most important chapel is the one of Saint Agnes with the Virgin child and near the Ecce Homo and a Dolorosa. Besides on the table there is a wooden case of Saint Cross. On the other hand, the chapel of the head of the epistle part, named Chapel of the Tabernacle or Christ of Mercedes, keeps different paintings, fresco, that represent the angels of Passion in the vault, they were painted by Antonio del Castillo Saavedra.
At the entrance of the church you can find two chapels: Saint Joseph Chapel and the Christ of the Humilladero Chapel, both buit at the beginning of the XX Century.
Text: J.A.S.C.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba