CHURCH OF SANCTI SPÍRITUS

Its foundation dates back to the year 1190. Subsequently, in 1223, King Alfonso IX ceded it to the Military Order of Santiago with the express mandate to repopulate its surroundings. Years later, in 1286, Don Martín Alfonso —illegitimate son of Alfonso IX of León— and his wife, Doña María Méndez, officially founded the female monastery of the Order of Santiago, which soon consolidated itself as a prominent spiritual and social center in Salamanca.

The community of nuns established in Sancti Spíritus came from the beguinage of Santa Ana, formed by a group of women who, since the 12th century, lived in the hermitage of the same name, located on the current Calle del Cristo de los Milagros. This beguinage was attended by women belonging to noble lineages of the city whose husbands had gone to war during the Reconquista.

After the foundation promoted by Martín Alfonso, the nuns moved to the convent of Sancti Spíritus, receiving both the village and its church in commendation. From then on, they adopted the name of Commanders of Santiago.

Very few remains of the primitive medieval temple are left, as it was completely rebuilt by the architect Fray Martín de Santiago between 1541-1544. At the end of the 18th century, the nuns left the convent. Later, the convent building was completely rebuilt and, in 1843, it began to function as a provincial prison, also housing the High Court, the Municipal Police barracks, and the headquarters of the School of Arts and Crafts, among other uses.

The Old Prison stood for 170 years next to the church of Sancti Spíritus. In 1931, the prison moved to the new facilities on Avenida de la Aldehuela. However, during the Civil War, the old building reopened its doors as a military prison. Finally, it was demolished in 1968, and on its plot, the block of houses located between Calle La Reja and Cuesta de Sancti Spíritus was built.

The church of Sancti Spiritus, built in the mid-16th century, corresponds to the late Gothic style and incorporates Plateresque elements. It features a single nave, flanked by niche chapels opened between the buttresses, and an octagonal main chapel. Both the nave and the chancel are covered with magnificent ribbed vaults, while the side chapels feature barrel vaults. At the foot of the temple are the upper choir and the lower choir, originally conceived for the use of the community of Santiago nuns.

On the exterior, the slender pinnacles surrounding the nave give the church a truly monumental appearance. The main portal stands out particularly, a magnificent example of suspended architecture. In the spandrels of the access arch, there are medallions that could be idealized representations of the founders of the primitive convent, Martín Alfonso and María Méndez. Above the door, a long inscription, lacking historical rigor, recounts the convent's foundation. The portal is framed by pilasters profusely decorated with grotesques, corbels, and canopies. Above them, a frieze unfolds with a triumphal procession of chariots converging towards a central shrine. The narrower upper body presents two blind semicircular windows and, above them, medallions of Santiago peregrino (Saint James the Pilgrim) and San Pedro (Saint Peter), separated by balustraded columns supporting another Plateresque frieze. The pediment houses the representation of Santiago in the Battle of Clavijo, accompanied by the coats of arms of León and Portugal, the result of the erroneous belief that María Méndez was a Portuguese infanta.

In the interior, the main altarpiece constitutes one of the most outstanding works of the 17th century in Salamanca. Erected around the mid-17th century, it featured the intervention of Antonio de Paz, author of the freestanding sculptures and reliefs. The altarpiece's iconographic program revolves around the apostle Saint James, although it also includes episodes from the life of Christ and the Virgin. In the attic, the Coming of the Holy Spirit is represented, the patron of the temple, while in the panels of the central and side streets, episodes of the Jacobean tradition are narrated: the Battle of Clavijo, the Apparition of the Virgin of Pilar, the Apparition of Saint James to King Ramiro I, the Beheading of the Apostle in Jerusalem and the transfer of his remains in an ox cart to Queen Lupa's palace. In the niches are sculptures of Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, and Saint Ambrose. The collateral altarpieces, also from the 17th century, house on the Epistle side the image of the Guardian Angel and on the Gospel side that of the Immaculate Conception, also noteworthy is the altarpiece of Saint Sebastian.

In the presbytery, several tombs are preserved, including those of the convent's founders —Martín Alfonso de León, illegitimate son of Alfonso IX, and his wife María Méndez de Sousa—, as well as that of Violante Sánchez de Castilla, illegitimate daughter of Sancho IV and María de Meneses.

At the foot of the church opens the choir of the former monastery of the Comendadoras, which is accessed from the church through a door framed with grotesque friezes. It was built in 1551 and expanded in 1587 by Juan Nates Naveda. In addition to its simple Gothic choir stalls, the magnificent Mudejar coffered ceiling stands out. At the head of the old choir, the image of the Cristo de los Milagros (Christ of Miracles) is venerated, an image from the early 15th century highly revered in the city.