ALTARPIECE OF THE LIFE OF THE HOLY VIRGIN

SURROUNDINGS 

The Basilica of Santa María del Coro, the future headquarters of the Diocesan Museum whose opening is expected to happen in the year 2016, sits on the same site as a Roman temple that was already used as a place of worship in the XII century. In the second half of the XVI century, the building was rebuilt. It was very badly damaged, however, in 1668 when an ammunitions store on Mount Urgull exploded. It was also severely damaged by several earthquakes.

The current project began in the year 1743 and the building designed by Ignacio de Ibero and Francisco Ignacio de Lizardi was inaugurated in 1774. It is a monumental style church with a basilical floor plan divided into three aisles, each with four sections, the centre aisle of which has a semicircular apse.

Entrance to the church is through an exuberant portico with tremendous visual impact that gives onto the southern aisle through two towers. The oversized niche with a quarter sphere dome on the altarpiece holds the figure of Our Lady of Assumption and is crowned with the figure of the town's patron saint.