Parish Church of San Bartolome

This Mudejar-style church was built in the 16^th century upon the site of a former mosque. A single glance at the church, occupying the highest and westernmost point of the town, will suffice to tell us five centuries of history: its Mudejar-Morisco coffered roof dates from the first half of 16^th century; its tower dates from the 17^th and its paintings from the 18^th.
The church was built as a result of the conversion to Christianity of the Mudejars and their permanence in the Ricote valley as Moriscos, or converted Moors. Originally it had only one threesectioned aisle. Between the second half of 16^th and second half of 17^th centuries, chapels were added between the buttresses while in the second half of 18^th century a tower was added, as were two other new sections, a presbytery and a choir at the narthex.
The chuch's long history gives it its own special identity, especially since successive additions have respected the original Mudejar-Moorish structure. This church is a sharp contrast to the other churches in the Ricote Valley which were built during the 17^th and 18^th centuries in the new Baroque style and it enables us to look back to what the churches were like when the parishes were originally founded.