BAROQUE ALTARPIECE OF THE COLLEGE CHURCH

The imposing complex formed by the Clerecía church and the Pontifical University was originally the Royal College of the Society of Jesus dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The Royal Jesuit College was founded at the beginning of the 17th century at the initiative of the kings of Spain, Philip III and Margaret of Austria. It began in 1617 and was under construction for more than one hundred and fifty years. The final result was a grandiose complex, considered a masterpiece of European Baroque.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, the building was divided into three parts. The church and sacristy were ceded to the Royal Clergy of San Marcos, from which its current name derives. The southern wing, organized around the community cloister, was ceded to Irish students. Today, that cloister houses the Vargas Zúñiga library, classrooms, and offices of the Pontifical University. The college, structured around the main cloister, with the General of Theology and other dependencies, became the seat of the Conciliar Seminary. Since 1940, the building has been the main headquarters of the Pontifical University of Salamanca. From an artistic perspective, the Church and the College are the most significant parts of this imposing architectural complex. Both spaces, along with the tour of the church towers (Scala Coeli), are open to tourist visits, offering visitors an enriching and unique experience.

The architect chosen to carry out the work was Juan Gómez de Mora, royal architect of Philip III. Gómez de Mora designed the plans between 1616-1618, on which other architects would later introduce modifications, with construction beginning in 1617. The works started with the Church, following the Jesuit typology of a nave with side chapels and a transept. Once the church was finished and consecrated in 1665, the interior decoration proceeded.

The church was endowed with ten altarpieces, among which the main altar stands out for its imposing dimensions and extraordinary quality. The structure of this altarpiece, a true Baroque masterpiece, was commissioned in 1673 to Juan Fernández, while the reliefs and sculptures were contracted separately with Juan Rodríguez, a disciple of Gregorio Fernández, and with Juan Peti. The magnificent gilding covering this altarpiece was completed in 1760, almost a century after the structure was finished. The altarpieces in the transept, dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier, respectively, are of the same style.

For some authors, this altarpiece constitutes a precedent and the starting point for Churrigueresque altarpieces and, more specifically, for the one in the Church of the Convent of San Esteban in Salamanca, a masterpiece by José de Churriguera.

The main altarpiece of the Church of La Clerecía can be classified, without fear of error, as a masterpiece of Spanish altarpiece art. Regarding its size, it is the second largest preserved in the city, only behind the one José de Churriguera built for the Church of San Esteban. With its 22 meters in height, it impresses with its monumentality.

The structure consists of a plinth, central body, and attic. It rests on a plinth of marbles and jaspers, upon which stand six large Solomonic columns of gigantic order, a precedent for the Solomonic columns that the Churriguera family would later popularize. The columns divide the central body into three sections, with the central one being wider than the lateral ones. The shafts of the columns are decorated with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, symbols of the Eucharist.

In the lateral sections of the large central body, which is in turn divided into two parts, there are four large sculptures representing the Fathers of the Latin Church: Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, and Saint Jerome. The central section is, on a symbolic level, the most important part of the altarpiece. The lower part is reserved for the great tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament. It is a large tabernacle with six Solomonic columns supporting a slender dome with a lantern, which evokes the dome of the church itself. These large ostensories are framed within the guidelines issued by Trent, for the dissemination and devotion to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Above the tabernacle, occupying the central part of the altarpiece, is the great relief of Pentecost, in relation to the dedication of the temple to the Holy Spirit. It was Queen Margaret of Austria who ordered that the relief of the Coming of the Holy Spirit be placed on the facade and on the main altarpiece of the temple.

A large entablature separates the central body from the attic. In the center of the attic, framed by large pilasters, appears the relief of Saint Ignatius writing the Spiritual Exercises inspired by the Virgin and in the presence of the Trinity. It is flanked by the coats of arms of Philip III and Margaret of Austria and by the Four Seated Evangelists resting on the entablature.