Osuna,Insigne Colegial Church

Insigne Colegial Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (TheCollegiate)

Was established in 1535 by D. Juan Tellez Giron IV Conde deUrena to obtain a papal bull for the parish. The temple was built on the siteof the church of the castle and was completely destroyed by fire.

The exterior of the temple has a surprising severity to it,and the church was built with extra chairs for the quarries of Osuna

In the main facade are four buttresses that stand as majorparts of their beautiful home. On the left the tower stands; the work began in1914 and is still unfinished.

Three doors give access to the Collegiate. There are twoothers from the 18th century that are blocked off. La Puerta de la Cuesta opensin front of the Monastery of the Incarnation and allows direct entry to thenave of the gospel, which communicates with the ship of the Epistle and iscalled Puerta del Sol.

You can access the interior of the Collegiate through thesmall courtyard of the Pantheon of the Duques de Osuna or Holy Sepulcher, whichwas built between 1544 and 1555 and is one of the most beautiful building ofthe Spanish Renaissance.

The stone columns are carved in two cloisters, whose archesare supported by large decorated arches. On the ground floor the arches are separatedby Ionic pilasters with Plateresque inspiration. Paraments are preserved in thepaintings from the 16th century, with the Lord’s Supper as the central motif,where restoration is planned for implementation.

Preserved in the interior of the four rooms are high-profileworks, such as paintings and ornaments made by artists from the 16th through19th centuries.

Among the paintings are St.Jerome and the Angel of Reckoning, Martyrdomof St. Sebastian, and Martyrdom ofSaint Barthelemy, all made by Jose de Ribera, “the Espanoleto,” in the 17thcentury.

One of the Duques de Osuna was protective of Zurbaran andhis disciples, and some pictures of this group of artists can be visited withinthe collegiate.

Past the courtyard, one reaches the sacristy of the Pantheon, a small hall decorated elegantly with Plateresque handcrafted art andcovered with green and gold polychrome. The sacristy is accessible to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Granada, aunique piece of work attributed to Guillen Ferrant of the 16th century.

The vaults are built under the Collegiate and the Chapel ofthe Holy Sepulcher and consist of several rooms or chapels, called San Marcos, Our Lady of Sleep, Bethlehem Gallery of Calvary Chapel, and De Profundis.

You can reach the Pantheon through the Collegiate Church.The first thing you see is the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, whose mainadornment is a shrine of Cristo de la Misericordia, which houses a magnificentcarving of Christ on the Cross, done by Juan de Mesa in 1623. The altarpiecechairs the chapel and is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

From the Chapel of the Immaculate, you can access theinterior of the church, which is of a rectangular plan with three naves andnine chapels: Mayor, Sagrario, Virgen de la Antigua, Animas, San Pedro, Virgende los Reyes, Santa Ana,and Baptismals. They contain magnificent altarpieces, images, and paintingsfrom prominent artists.

You can access the museum through a door, which is alsoPlateresque and conducted in the mid-16th century. Its agencies and the formervestry rooms are attached.