Hospital de Santiago: The Escorial of Andalucía

In 1562, Andrés de Vandelvira began work on the Hospital de Santiago, commissioned by Diego de los Cobos, bishop of Jaén. The construction was completed in 1575, as noted on the staircase testero. The Hospital de Santiago is a national monument in Úbeda, known at times as the 'Escorial of Andalucía'. Today, it functions as a cultural center, a space for exhibitions and congresses, and a library.

Initially, it served as a hospital for the poor sick, a palace, and a church-pantheon. The building is an austere yet grandiose work with sparse ornamentation and great volume. It features two towers at the ends of the facade with glazed ceramic covers, and two other towers framing the large central chapel. The complex is organized around a large central courtyard with a double arcade, notable for its clarity and harmony of proportions. The polished white marble columns are from Carrara.

On one side of the courtyard begins an impressive cloister-type staircase with a sort of 'hanging' vault, offering strong Hispanic-Islamic resonances. The staircase is decorated with fresco paintings created shortly after the construction was finished and attributed to Pedro de Raxis and Gabriel Rosales. These paintings represent some of the few remaining examples of mural painting from the Spanish Renaissance.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons