Church Sant Miquel

After consecration the old building from the Muslim era served as a church until the new temple was started, around the year 1390, and the bell tower has often been identified as the minaret of the mosque. Apparently the name Sant Miquel comes from the confessor of Jaume I, Brother Miquel Fabra, the Dominican who consecrated the temple dedicating it to the patron saint. Today only the façade and the first chapel on the right as one enters remain of the Gothic building, due to a fire that destroyed the structure in the 16th century. The façade – attributed to Pere de Sant Joan, master builder of the Cathedral – is austere, and one of the most beautiful specimens of Gothic art. A voussoir-covered space provides access to the temple, finished by a pointed tympanum and two pointed lateral pinnacles. On the tympanum there is a seated virgin accompanied by musician angels. The Gothic coats of arms that decorate the façade are noteworthy as is the stone sculpture of the Virgen María de la Salud on the inside, which according to legend presided over the royal galley in the navy of Jaume I. 

Inside, the church has a single nave with a trapezoidal apse and square side chapels. The chapels are roofed by ribbed vaults, except those of Sagrario and Virgen María de la Salud. The main altarpiece is Baroque, the work of Francesc Herrera, presided over by an image of the saint the church is dedicated to, with the archangels Saint Gabriel and Saint San Raphael. The presbytery vault has paintings by Joan Morey of Saint Michael’s struggle against the rebellious angels. At the sides are two paintings by Joan Muntaner Cladera on the Apparitions of Saint Michael.