"On the outside there is a rebuilt façade, presided over by a bell tower divided into two bodies and with two arches in each of them; Its simple main doorway, originally Gothic and with a wavy ogee arch, is the only entrance to the temple, through which you access a small gate on whose roof stands the choir room.
The interior of the church is made up of three parallel naves about twenty-five meters long, the center one being twice as wide as each of the other two; These are separated at each dividing line by four robust pointed arches, supported on octagonal stone pillars and topped with molded capitals. The central nave preserves its primitive coffered ceiling of wooden braces in the vault, with very little ornamentation; however, the vaults of the side naves were rebuilt in 1913 and do not have any coffered ceiling. This first body is followed by a triple apse, whose features already obey reforms and works from the 17th century.
At the end of the main nave stands the presbytery, whose dome, somewhat lowered, has as its only adornment a central rosette of plasterwork. In the middle of this enclosure stands the altar where the consecration is celebrated; and in the background, the main altar, with a wooden altarpiece from 1677, with a single body divided into three parts separated by stipes, and with a niche in the attic that houses a small carving of its owner, the apostle San Mateo, also Made of somewhat deteriorated wood and possibly from the same date as the altarpiece, flanked by two emblems of the Ducal House of Medinaceli, which once held the patronage of this parish. In its center, another niche houses the image of the Virgen de la Aurora with the Child, patron saint of Monturque, originally complete wood carving that was modified to make it dress, whose age and origin are unknown. The set is completed by two canvases with the images of Saint Joseph, on the left, and Saint Francis of Assisi, on the other side, which present a nineteenth-century invoice. A hole excavated in the thickness of the left wall of the presbytery houses the parish treasure, among whose pieces stands out a beautiful processional monstrance from the first half of the 17th century, attributed to Pedro Sánchez de Luque.
For its part, at the beginning of the nave on the left and next to the entrance gate, you can see the sculptural group of San Isidro Labrador with his team of oxen, by the Lucentino artist Pedro Muñoz de Toro, made in 1843. Around the middle of In the aforementioned nave, the entrances with semicircular arches open to two independent chapels, entirely protected by iron gates. The first of them, erected in 1696, has a slightly lowered half-barrel vault and houses the dressing room of the Virgen de la Soledad, built a century after the chapel, however, specifically in 1791, according to the legend that exists. around the circumference of the base of its hemispherical dome, exquisitely painted with Marian motifs. The Virgin is a beautiful dress image from the end of the 17th century, carved in wood and by an unknown author, although related to the Granada school, restored in 1988 by the Cordovan image maker Miguel Ángel González, who, due to the poor condition of the primitive interlocked hands, carved the ones he currently has, placing them in a separate position, more according to the new iconographic concept. In a niche on the right wall of this chapel you can see Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, an interesting wooden work made in the year 2000 by the artist from Priego Niceto Mateo Porras; and on the left, another niche houses a serial figure of the Risen One from 1955. For its part, the center of the room is occupied by the baptismal font, which is not the original one in the temple. Restored in 1988 by the Cordovan image maker Miguel Ángel González, who, due to the poor condition of the primitive intertwined hands, carved the ones he currently has, placing them in a separate position, more in keeping with the new iconographic concept. In a niche on the right wall of this chapel you can see Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, an interesting wooden work made in the year 2000 by the artist from Priego Niceto Mateo Porras; and on the left, another niche houses a serial figure of the Risen One from 1955. For its part, the center of the room is occupied by the baptismal font, which is not the original one in the temple. Restored in 1988 by the Cordoba image maker Miguel Ángel González, who, due to the poor condition of the primitive intertwined hands, carved the ones he currently has, placing them in a separate position, more in line with the new iconographic concept. In a niche on the right wall of this chapel you can see Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, an interesting wooden work made in the year 2000 by the artist from Prieguense Niceto Mateo Porras; and on the left, another niche houses a serial figure of the Risen One from 1955. For its part, the center of the room is occupied by the baptismal font, which is not the original one in the temple. In a niche on the right wall of this chapel you can see Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, an interesting wooden work made in the year 2000 by the artist from Priego Niceto Mateo Porras; and on the left, another niche houses a serial figure of the Risen One from 1955. For its part, the center of the room is occupied by the baptismal font, which is not the original one in the temple. In a niche on the right wall of this chapel you can see Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, an interesting wooden work made in the year 2000 by the artist from Prieguense Niceto Mateo Porras; and on the left, another niche houses a serial figure of the Risen One from 1955. For its part, the center of the room is occupied by the baptismal font, which is not the original one in the temple.
To the right of the previous one is the chapel with an oval dome of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, presided over by an altar with a simple carved wooden altarpiece and stipes, which through a stained glass window overlooks a dressing room also covered with a beautiful oval dome completely filled with plant plasterwork, built in 1694, and whose decoration, however, dates back to the last quarter of the 18th century, as attested by the inscription that exists on the lintel of the right side entrance of said room. In this chamber resides the effigy of the Nazarene, a work of great artistic value that arrived in this town in 1662, which due to its characteristics seems to come from the Granada school, and more specifically from a workshop in which the way of making the workshop of the Moras, either from José or from the patriarch of the family, Bernardo de Mora. The sculpture is a magnificent anatomized wood carving, with articulated arms and a wig, in which the expressiveness of the face and the defined physical features of the hands stand out greatly; the arboreal cross that it supports is of recent manufacture, being processed with another of great artistic value, carved in silver, made by Bartolomé de Gálvez y Aranda in the mid-18th century. On the right wall of this chapel you can see a very deteriorated canvas, which represents a Crucified on a black background, painted in the same eighteenth century; and on the sides, two plaster images of the Virgen del Carmen and San Antonio, both from the central years of the last century. Finally, in an open niche in the opposite wall rests a small effigy of the Virgin of Fatima, from the same period as the previous ones.
In the space that separates the two mentioned chapels on the inside of the temple, there is a large canvas with the figure of Jesus carrying the cross on his way to Calvary, helped by the Cyrenean, from the beginning of the last century.
Precisely after the chapel of Jesus, and parallel to it, there is another rectangular nave of similar dimensions, covered with two baroque groined vaults, devoid of any type of decoration, however, and which houses a wooden altarpiece with an altar at the back. , of very poor composition, where a papier-mâché carving of the Virgin of the Rosary from 1911 is venerated. On the wall on the right is the door that allows access to the new sacristy, recently built, and, from there, to the room that houses the historical and very complete parish archive, where the different series of sacramental books and other valuable documentary records from the beginning of the 16th century are kept in very good condition.
But without a doubt, the most interesting and attractive part of the building is the sumptuous Chapel of the Tabernacle, located at the head of the nave of the Gospel, a work from the second quarter of the 17th century, in whose construction and decoration various artists from neighboring towns and from the capital of the province itself, including Francisco Donaire Trejo (masonry master), Bernabé Gómez del Río (sculptor), Bernabé Jiménez de Illescas and Andrés del Río (painters), Gabriel Martínez de Peralta (carpenter) and Juan Bravo Machado (gilder). It is conceived as a double space: The first, preceding, is rectangular and covered with a dome on pendentives, supported by semicircular arches on Corinthian pilasters. Everything is profusely covered with ornamentation of sculptures and reliefs made in plaster, taking advantage of its white color to contrast it with gold, resulting in an unusually rich effect. On both sides of the gate are Saint John the Baptist and Saint Sebastian. Lying on the scrolls of the cover, La Caridad and La Esperanza. Above, a beautiful relief of the Lord's Supper, of great value that develops on a variegated background, upholstered with a grid of diamonds with inserted flowers. In the arch that crowns this set appears the figure of Faith, in the pendentives the four Evangelists and in the oval dome, completely covered by cherubs, Eucharistic symbols inserted in plaques and, alternating with them, paintings representing the fathers of the church. . Lying on the scrolls of the cover, La Caridad and La Esperanza. Above, a beautiful relief of the Lord's Supper, of great value that develops on a variegated background, upholstered with a grid of diamonds with inserted flowers. In the arch that crowns this set appears the figure of Faith, in the pendentives the four Evangelists and in the oval dome, completely covered by cherubs, Eucharistic symbols inserted in plaques and, alternating with them, paintings representing the fathers of the church. . Lying on the scrolls of the cover, La Caridad and La Esperanza. Above, a beautiful relief of the Lord's Supper, of great value that develops on a variegated background, upholstered with a grid of diamonds with inserted flowers. In the arch that crowns this set appears the figure of Faith, in the pendentives the four Evangelists and in the oval dome, completely covered by cherubs, Eucharistic symbols inserted in plaques and, alternating with them, paintings representing the fathers of the church. .
The second space is the Tabernacle itself, which is accessed through a linteled doorway of dark and pink marble, which is made up of two columns that support a frieze and cornice with spectacular scrolls and a stop. It closes with a small oval dome, divided into strips and dotted with beautiful cherub heads in relief. The wooden doors that close this space are a work worth taking into account due to their careful carving, representing various symbols such as the chalice and lighted candles. In the center of the small room, an altar attached to the central wall on which the Tabernacle itself rests, a splendid work of carved and gilded wood both inside and outside, from the same period as the chapel, and in whose little doors It shows off the very well painted figures of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
Inside the chapel complex that we are commenting on, on the left wall of it, there is a good wooden altarpiece from the mid-18th century, the work of the Lucentino carver José Primo, which houses a recent image of the Miraculous Lady; being able to observe, through the cracks of the niche where the Virgin is located, part of the plasterwork that covered the primitive wall. In front of this altarpiece, said room communicates directly with the presbytery through a semicircular arch, decorated in the same style as it.
For its part, on the right, the nave of the Epistle is presided over by the chapel that was erected in 1659 in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, occupied for most of the last century by the Virgen de la Aurora and for a few years for an image of the Immaculate Conception that seems to date towards the end of the 19th century. Its gilded wooden altarpiece and the altar that precedes it are from 1696, highlighting a set of four very deteriorated canvases with the figures of San Joaquín and San Francisco de Asís, on one side, and San José and Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the other; and a glass canvas on the upper part with the Virgin of Perpetual Help from a much more modern date.
In the wall that separates this nave of the Epistle from the outside there is no other chapel or altar, and only on the middle of it can be seen the impressive figure of a Crucified somewhat larger than life, from the beginning of the 17th century, of Mexican and made with cane marrow, which arrived in this town on December 7, 1998, and which was blessed the following day with the name of Santo Cristo de la Paz.
Finally, distributed throughout the interior of the church, you can also see fourteen small paintings with the respective representations of the stations of the Via-Crucis, which do not seem to be very old."
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Masses 11:30