Ruta de las once torres de Écija

Church of Santa Maria.

The tower of Santa María (52 meters high) is the one with the most bells. This tall and slender bell tower, reminiscent of the Giralda in Seville, can be seen from the Plaza de España itself, as it stands out in height from the rest of the buildings. On July 16, 1717, the foundations were blessed and the first stone was placed, which they removed from the Church of Santa Cruz. The tower was designed by Pedro de Silva, and he built it at the same time as the Seville Tobacco Factory, in which he also intervened. The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 seriously damaged the second and third body of bells, so it had to be rebuilt later.

Church of La Victoria.

The tower, 35 meters high, was built between 1754 and 1757 by order of the friars José Santos and Pedro Díaz. It is made of carved brick, departing from the rest of the Ecijan baroque towers in terms of the rich decoration of the upper sections. After the demolition of part of the church that was attached to the tower, it was exempted. Of its four bays, only one is occupied by a turning bell.As a curiosity, it should be noted that this tower has exactly the same design as the tower of the Iglesia de la Victoria that is located in the nearby town of Estepa.

Church of San Juan.

The tower of San Juan, with its 8 bells and 46 meters high, was completed in 1745. It was made by the masters Lucas Bazán and Antonio Corrales commissioned by the Marquis of Alcántara, with a typically Ecijan design and decoration. As a curiosity, the stone that serves as the base for the weather vane angel that crowns the tower, has an inscription of the second and third verses of the seventh chapter of the Apocalypse.

Main Church of Santa Cruz.

This tower, 42 meters high and in a Renaissance style, is the oldest in Écija and the only one with a rectangular plan. This is because its shaft belongs to theminaret of the mosque that existed in this same place. At the bottom there are two interesting inscriptions in Arabic, one from the year 930 of Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III, and another from 997 of his successor al-Hakam II, both refer to the construction of fountains. “The Emir of the believers, that Allab illustrate him, Abd-ar Rabman son of Muhammad, has ordered the construction of this fountain, in the hope of a beautiful reward from Allab (and a magnificent reward) and this work was finished with the help from Allab under the direction of his freedman and his governor Umaiya, son of Muhammad ibn Suhaid in the month of Al-Muharram in the year 318 (February 930). "

Church of the Virgin of Carmen.

The church was founded in the 15th century, but its tower, 45 meters high, was built in 1637. For its realization, carved brick was used that is hidden behind a double polychrome plaster. Perhaps the element that most characterizes this tower is found in the third body of the reed, since in the pilasters there are double niches with marble sculptures personifying figures of different saints. As in other bell towers in the city, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 affected this tower a lot, so it had to be rebuilt later.

Las Gemelas Towers

The towers and portal are the only thing that remains of the old monastery of La Merced, built in 1684. Its current name is due to the fact that they are two totally symmetrical bell towers, 32 meters high and with three bodies in a pyramidal arrangement. Damages suffered by lightning that have fallen on them over the years are documented. The last took place on June 24, 2014, demolishing parts of the second and third body of the left tower, later rebuilt.