Church of Our Father Jesus - Ronda

Location: Padre Jesus District, next to the Fountain of the Eight Spouts.

Originally this church was consecrated to Santa Cecilia and its construction has a close relation to the growth of this area following the Christian conquest (1485). The tower-face shows the two styles of the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th Century. Its ornate doorway, with its lancer arch, has a Gothic feel, whilst the bell-tower preserves a Renaissance flavour.

Its interior is of a square design, with three naves separated by semicircular arches, which give it a great width. Its original ceiling, today hidden from view, has wooden coffering of the Mudejar style (with jointed rafters). In 1769, it was given its present baroque roof, rich in plasterworks that decorate the arris vaults. It was also during the baroque period of the 18th Century that the two dressing rooms were added, one in the lower part and the other in one of the sides of the church.

At the end of the 19th Century, the Church of los Descalzos (“the Barefooted”), situated in the upper part of the market, took the name of Santa Cecilia, whilst this one became called Padre Jesús, because of the image venerated inside this parish church and is taken out once a year causing one the most emotional moments of Easter in Ronda.

This church, along with the Fountain of the Eight Spouts and the views that we have from here of the old part of Ronda, make the Padre Jesús district a cradle of history and faithful exponent of the exquisite nature of the traditional popular architecture.