Collegiate of Saint Hippolyte
The Monarch Alphonse XI promised to build a collegiate for Saint Hippolyte, who
was born on the day of the Victory 13th of August 1311, if he won the Batalla del Río Salado (Battle of Salt River). Luis María Ramírez de las Casas Deza told us that through a royal order (Alcalá de Henares, 25th January of 1348) the colegiata was built. A year before the Pope named a prior and nine canons to run the Collegiate.
Of the ancient Collegiate made by Alphonse XI of Castile remains only the apse and the transept. The apse of
the church is polygonal covered by a gothic rib vault decorated by different nerves and saw teeth, the walls are made with pointed arches and double arches.
In 1729 the new works began, and they were run by Juan de Aguilar. It was built with a latin cross with a unique nave and covered by a barrel vault the façade has a roman arch lowered, whose spandrels are decorated with geometrical decorations, and two pillars. A second part has a circular pediment with the stone image of a saint into a niche. The rest of the façade has smart
decorated boards, very typical in the cordovan baroque.
In 1773 the Collegiate Council decided to destroy the ancient tower and to rebuild a new one. The chosen master was Don Pedro de Lara, who projected a tower composed by four parts; only two of them were performed. The first of them
is a prism rectangular of fifteen meters height without decorations only a few mantelpieces. The second part three plain pillars with toscani capitals and roman arches for eight bells on the pillars there is an entablature with metopes and trygliphs.
In 1312 the king Ferdinand IV dies in Jaén, it is decided to bury him in Córdoba, because the high temperatures made difficult to transport him to Seville or Toledo, the capital. Later, in 1350 Alphonse XI’s son, promoted of the Collegiate, died because of the
pest. His rests were moved to the Royal Chapel of Seville, and then in 1371 they were moved to Córdoba, year in which, the works ended in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Córdoba, and the bodies of the two monarchs were placed there.
At the beginning of the XVIII Century the canons of the collegiate tried to convince Philip V to join to the foundation
of the Royal Chapel and the Collegiate, so his rest could be buried with the other kings, as Alphonse XI wanted. Philip V accepted this and asks permission to the Pope Benedict XIII. Then the bodies were moved on 8th August 1736.
During a century the bodies were kept in the presbytery of the chapel into wooden coffins, where they were shown to visitors. In 1846 the monument committee decided to put them into red marble coffins. In the gospel side there is Alphonse XI and the epistle side Ferdinand IV.
was born on the day of the Victory 13th of August 1311, if he won the Batalla del Río Salado (Battle of Salt River). Luis María Ramírez de las Casas Deza told us that through a royal order (Alcalá de Henares, 25th January of 1348) the colegiata was built. A year before the Pope named a prior and nine canons to run the Collegiate.
Of the ancient Collegiate made by Alphonse XI of Castile remains only the apse and the transept. The apse of
the church is polygonal covered by a gothic rib vault decorated by different nerves and saw teeth, the walls are made with pointed arches and double arches.
In 1729 the new works began, and they were run by Juan de Aguilar. It was built with a latin cross with a unique nave and covered by a barrel vault the façade has a roman arch lowered, whose spandrels are decorated with geometrical decorations, and two pillars. A second part has a circular pediment with the stone image of a saint into a niche. The rest of the façade has smart
decorated boards, very typical in the cordovan baroque.
In 1773 the Collegiate Council decided to destroy the ancient tower and to rebuild a new one. The chosen master was Don Pedro de Lara, who projected a tower composed by four parts; only two of them were performed. The first of them
is a prism rectangular of fifteen meters height without decorations only a few mantelpieces. The second part three plain pillars with toscani capitals and roman arches for eight bells on the pillars there is an entablature with metopes and trygliphs.
In 1312 the king Ferdinand IV dies in Jaén, it is decided to bury him in Córdoba, because the high temperatures made difficult to transport him to Seville or Toledo, the capital. Later, in 1350 Alphonse XI’s son, promoted of the Collegiate, died because of the
pest. His rests were moved to the Royal Chapel of Seville, and then in 1371 they were moved to Córdoba, year in which, the works ended in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Córdoba, and the bodies of the two monarchs were placed there.
At the beginning of the XVIII Century the canons of the collegiate tried to convince Philip V to join to the foundation
of the Royal Chapel and the Collegiate, so his rest could be buried with the other kings, as Alphonse XI wanted. Philip V accepted this and asks permission to the Pope Benedict XIII. Then the bodies were moved on 8th August 1736.
During a century the bodies were kept in the presbytery of the chapel into wooden coffins, where they were shown to visitors. In 1846 the monument committee decided to put them into red marble coffins. In the gospel side there is Alphonse XI and the epistle side Ferdinand IV.
Text: J.A.S.C.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba