CHURCH OF SAINT CATHERINE, ALZIRA
Description
The church of Santa Catalina in Alzira is a Building of Cultural Interest. It exemplifies the Valencian Gothic style of the Reconquista period. Located in the town center, (Constitution Square, formerly Santa Catalina Square), it was built on the site of the main mosque, after remodeled in 1531, and rebuilt in 1681. The architect responsible for the Baroque work was Juan Pérez Castiel.
The prominent buttresses and the remains of the main arches are Gothic elements that still stand. The church suffered a fire in 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and lost its archives and an important collection of sculptures and paintings, including works from the monasteries of La Murta, the Franciscans, and the Capuchins, kept inside since the confiscation of church property.
Stylistically, it would be considered a blend of Neoclassical and Baroque eclecticism.
The most striking feature of the outter part is the Solomonic spiral columns in the portal. The architect is Gaspar Díaz. The doorway, carved in stone, is similar to that of San Andrés in Valencia. It features a three-row laurel wreath, leading to the collar with its composite molding. The abacus is mounted on a second level, with an architrave supported by three corbels and vegetal ornamentation. The lintel pediment bears an allegorical shield of Saint Catherine. The coat of arms of the town of Alzira is located in the uppermost section.
Santa Catalina is a single-nave church with a gabled roof. Inside, it has a basilica floor plan and a Gothic structure, with prominent buttresses and altars in niches. The interior dome is painted by the Alzira artist Tomás Parra.
Altarpieces by Tomás Vergara (1702) in the side chapels.
The Chapel of Communion, originally designed in 1776 by the architect Vicente Gascó.
At end of the church stand colossal Solomonic columns and monumental terracotta figures of the Saints of the Stone, Saint Christopher and Saint Roch.
A Neo-Baroque altarpiece in the presbytery, by Elias Cuñat, displays the reliquaries of the patron saints and a large canvas by F. Camilo (Saint Felix Cantalici).
The dome, painted by J. Cabañes (1946-47), is framed by pairs of transverse arches with allegorical scenes from the history of Alzira.
Among its sculptures, a Baroque maternity stands out, with significant damage from the 1982 floods, also some works by Antonio Ballester: S. Immaculate, S. Antoni and the processional float of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Ecce Homo by Octavi Vicent.
