Old Hermitage of Santa Vera Cruz

Ancient cartographic documents from the 13th to 18th centuries mention an enclave: "Los Palacios", the ‘Torre de Los Palacios’ and/or the ‘Venta de Los Palacios’, located in the present-day municipality of Santa Elena, next to the Puerto del Muradal and the scene of the Battle of Navas de Tolosa. Here, there was a church called Santa Cruz, or Santa Vera Cruz, and a house with a tower that formed part of a single building, where Castilian kings stayed on their expeditions to Andalusia. It was built around 1350, during the reign of Alfonso XI. The hermitage was supported by robust square pillars and a double arcade, its main door facing south, looking at the main road that came up from Vilches (opposite orientation to that of the current church). Inside the hermitage, there was an image of Saint Helena, different from the current one, and a large painting depicting the victory of Las Navas de Tolosa.

On its side façade, there is an inscription made during the reign of Charles IV, in memory of where the first Hermitage of the Santa Vera Cruz was built, which commemorated the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. It is a sandstone slab with the inscription engraved in bas-relief. It reads:

"Here was the old Hermitage of Santa Elena, which King Alfonso VIII ordered to be built in memory of the miracle of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the year 1212, which, due to its threat of ruin, was ordered to be demolished in 1793, during the reign of Charles III, who ordered the construction of another new one with the same name to serve as a parish church for this town".

The old royal house became a parish residence, the large eighteenth-century bell gable was erected on the rear façade of the tower, and only the apse of the old Hermitage of Santa Elena, where the altar was, is now part of the current church.