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There are two parts to the Santa Catalina Parish Church: the original part that dates back to the 16th century and a series of extensions that were built on to it from the 18th century up to the present day.
The church has four bays, chapels between buttresses, a barrel vault with intermediate ribs crossing it diagonally and a five-sided polygonal apse with a star-shaped vault.
The first modification to the church (18th century) was an attempt to create a Latin cross as an extension of the ancient Gothic layout. The orientation of the high altar was also changed from East to West and the neoclassical style door called the ‘Porta Nova’ was added.
Following this first extension the capilla de la Comunión (Communion Chapel) was built –today it is dedicated to Saint Vicente Ferrer and this is where a relic of the saint along with a Holy Week processional statue from the 18th century is kept – and the new Sacristies were built between the 19th and the 20th centuries.
Finally a new bell tower was built in around 1895. It is a beautiful example of the traditional hexagonal towers built in medieval times. It is 24 metres around the base and 31 metres high.
Its stands right in the town centre of Moraira; it is a rectangular building that is divided into three naves, which are separated by pillars and four bays. The first of them, together with the portico of four arches (resembling the typical riurau structures), were built in 1981 on the occasion of the extension work.
The quadrangular bell tower is located on the left hand side.
The architectural features of this chapel enhance a simple and elegant Renaissance style entrance (17th century). The rest of the building is Baroque style and it is divided into two bays. The interior decoration with geometric and plant motifs dates back to 1861.
There is a belfry over the door and a dome covered with green tiles on the first section of the roof.
Years ago a brotherhood used to carry the religious sculpture of the Divina Pastora in the street processions and it would hold an annual festival with the donations it was given. Nowadays the Colla el Falçó – Asociación de “dolçainers i tabaleters” of Teulada – organizes the festivities in honour of the Divina Pastora in September.
It is a beautiful neoclassical rectangular building, with three naves, four bays and remarkable paintings on the ceiling and at the high altar where there is an image of Saint Vicente (16th century), painted on wood by Gaspar de Requena, a Renaissance painter and a fellow student of Juan de Juanes.
Its dome covered with green, blue and white tiles is another one of its outstanding features.
This building has a chapel, a spring and the house where the hermit used to live.
It was built in honour of Saint Vicente Ferrer. Legend has it that the Saint visited his sister Constanza, who lived in Teulada, on various occasions.
On one of his visits, while they were out on a walk, Constanza said she was thirsty so Saint Vicente miraculously made water spring forth so that she could drink it. To commemorate this miracle, this hermitage was built on the very same spot along with the spring from where water always flows.
It stands on the highest point of the Cap d’Or peninsula, it is one of the most spectacular spots on the coast, and from here the views over the horizon are magnificent.
It was built at the end of the 16th century as a coastal fortification together with the other watchtowers built along the Valencian coastline, which would warn each other and the inland towns of possible pirate attacks. It is 7m in diameter and 11m high.
Cova de la Cendra, which is an Upper-Palaeolithic archaeological site, is located on the south-east side of the Cap d ‘Or.
The features of the Gothic walled town of Teulada, which has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (“BIC”) in the Historical Architectural Ensemble category, are unique in the Valencian Community.
The area, which is commonly known as “la Vila”, is the old walled town.
This beautiful, harmonious, uniform historical architectural ensemble dates back to the period after the Christian Reconquista (a series of campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from the Muslims), and additions were then made to it in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its Tosca stone buildings, with their distinct features of Gothic architecture and aesthetics are fascinating. There are also buildings from the Baroque era and a few modernist style structures as well.
The fortified church of Santa Catalina, the Chapel of Divina Pastora and the la Sala de Jurats i Justicies are the most outstanding buildings in this Historical Architectural Ensemble.
Moraira Castle was built in the 18th century for defensive purposes and as a watchtower that dominates the beach called playa de l’Ampolla.
It is a distinctive horse-shoe shaped building, with a semi-circular south-facing façade and just one doorway on its north side. Over the door hangs the Bourbon royal coat of arms with the date when the Castle was completed, 1742. In the past it was accessed by going over a drawbridge and the moat after having gone past the fortified outpost. The sloping walls are 10 m. high and they are made of stone that is covered with blocks of Tosca stone that comes from the surrounding fossil dunes. The roof is protected by a small wall that has seven embrasures, where the canons were positioned. The Castle was built on 200m2 in total and its thick walls divide up the space into the central nave and two smaller rooms on the sides. The daylight shines through three south-facing windows and another one over the entrance.
Today there is an audio visual display for visitors inside on the history of the Watchtowers along the Valencian Coastline.
This contemporary building is the work of Francisco Mangado and it was inaugurated in 2011.
It is an open space, with concrete walls and an impressive south-east façade with a blue tile roof looking onto the sea.
The auditorium stands on the highest point of Teulada with views of the Moraira town centre beside the sea and the stunning scenery of terraced vineyards.
A vast and varied programme of cultural events are organised here right through the year.