The silhouette of the parish church and its slender tower dominates the Campo de Tejada valley. Located high above the town’s main square, its façade features the distinctive profile of its tower, at the foot of which is the Puerta del Perdón (Door of Forgiveness).
Its construction origins are a complete mystery, although there are hints that shed some light on the matter. A manuscript from 1760, referring to Paterna, states: ‘before the general loss of Spain, it was already a town, as evidenced by the construction of its church contemporary with the walls of Texada’. Another source written a few years later, in 1773, states: ‘After Paterna was won by the Holy King, the Parish Church of San Bartolomé was erected on the same site as the mosque, using most of it as a watchtower’.
It is located on the outskirts of the archaeological remains of the ancient city of Tejada la Nueva, an ancient fortress of presumed Punic origin that reached its peak during the Roman and Muslim periods, before becoming depopulated in the mid-16th century.
At this site, we find the remains of a Roman swimming pool, undoubtedly belonging to a large Roman house or domus, which is why it is also known as the ‘Queen’s Baths’, a name attributed to it because the villa is considered to have been the residence of Pompeia Plotina, Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Trajan, who, according to certain medieval Sevillian traditions, was a native of this city. Water flowed here until about forty years ago, when artesian wells began to proliferate in the surrounding area and it dried up. It is located on municipal land, the former resting place for livestock on the ‘Vereda de Carne’ or Niebla (located on the old Roman road).
On a small hill among wheat fields, sunflowers and olive groves, in the ancient village of Tujena, stands its white and resplendent chapel, where the patron saint of farmers blesses the rich fields of Paterna, surrounded by the scent of thyme and rosemary from the nearby mountains. The pilgrimage of San Isidro has been celebrated around it since 1955.
Inside, on the main altar, is the image of San Isidro, flanked by images of the Virgin of Carmen and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There is also currently, inside the chapel, a painful image, the work of local sculptor José Guzmán Vázquez, dedicated to the Santísima Virgen de la Esperanza. Outside, its bell tower flutters joyfully in its cheerful belfry, announcing its festivities.
The Alpízar Castle, located 5.5 km from the town centre of Paterna del Campo, stands at a moderate height (133 m) overlooking the entire Campo de Tejada valley. Its origins are a true mystery. Roman, Arab and medieval remains found in this beautiful enclave and its surroundings lead us to believe that its origins date back to ancient times.
It was a fortress that defended one of the busiest routes in ancient times. The Roman aqueduct of Itálica, which can still be seen today, started in its vicinity.
This building has a trapezoidal floor plan, is flanked by four square towers at the corners (two of which still have battlements and stepped merlons) and consists of a central courtyard or parade ground that has been adapted to serve as the owners’ residence today. Until the 18th century, the castle had a fifth tower or ‘keep’ next to the original gate, a horseshoe-shaped archway overlooking Tejada.
After the Castilian conquest of these lands, the Castle of Alpízar passed into the hands of the Templars and subsequently had countless owners, beginning with Juan Mathe de Luna (in 1291), chief steward of Sancho IV, until 7 August 1516, when it was sold to Diego Colón, son of Christopher Columbus, admiral and viceroy of the Indies. The Cathedral of Seville, the Pérez de Guzmán family, the Zúñiga family, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, Portocarrero and Medinaceli are institutions and noble families through which the property passed in subsequent centuries. In 1863, when it was owned by José María Domínguez Cáceres, a wealthy landowner from Paterna del Campo nicknamed ‘the rich Andalusian’, the south gate of the castle was opened with a double horseshoe arch. The most recent owners were the Count of Bustillo and the Doblas brothers from Paterna, until Emilio Panduro Cadaval, a master stonemason from Gerena who made his fortune at the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville in 1929, became its last owner. The property is still in the hands of his descendants today.
The Casa Cilla in Paterna del Campo is a Baroque-style building constructed in the 18th century. It was acquired by the Seville Cathedral Chapter on 13 August 1770 for use as a tithe warehouse, where tributes in kind paid by local residents to the Church were collected. This function is evident in the presence of the chapter’s coat of arms on its façade, consisting of a Giralda and two jars of lilies.
It is located in a central and strategic location in the town, next to the church of San Bartolomé, and retains its original 18th-century form. Currently, the building is used as a rectory and is not open to the public for visits.
The Chapel of Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder is a outstanding example of neoclassical religious architecture in Paterna del Campo. It is attached to the chancel of the Parish Church of San Bartolomé, in the heart of the town’s historic centre.
Its square floor plan and ribbed vault reflect the sobriety and elegance characteristic of the neoclassical style. The façade features a semicircular arch, typical of this architectural style. Inside, the image of Our Father Jesus of Great Power is venerated, an anonymous carving which, according to some sources, could be the result of the remodelling of an ancient Resurrected Christ of great antiquity.
The chapel is the headquarters of the Sacramental Brotherhood of Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y María Santísima del Mayor Dolor, which carries out its penitential procession on Holy Thursday, notable for the sobriety of its floats and the devotion of its members.
This chapel dates back to 1980 and is located on the street that now bears its name. Its façade is decorated with artistic tiles and topped by a belfry and the Holy Cross. It has an exuberant interior decoration based on plasterwork in red and gold tones, with the last modification carried out in 2023.
Inside, the ‘Santísima Cruz de Abajo’ (Holy Cross of Below) is enthroned. It is made of cedar wood, gilded in fine gold and polychromed, created in 1956 by the Huelva sculptor José Oliva Castilla, and is a source of devotion for its faithful devotees. The interior is crowned by an interesting dome with figures of the four Evangelists surrounding the image of the Risen Christ, made of polychrome wood by Seville sculptor José María Leal Bernáldez. It also has carvings of the Child Jesus and the image of Saint Helena Empress.
The current ‘Chapel of the Holy Cross of the Victory of Christ’ is located on Calle Andalucía. It dates back to 1985 and is the legacy of the temporary structures of previous buildings that, in times prior to this date, housed the Holy Cross of the Victory of Christ.
This building, topped by a belfry and finished with a dome crowned by the Holy Cross, is in the purest Andalusian Baroque style, evident in the tiles on its façade and in the architectural layout of its components. Inside, it houses the Holy Cross of the Victory of Christ and a relic of the Sacred Lignum Crucis. Entirely decorated in Baroque style, arranged in three altarpieces, it combines fabric, cord and meticulous workmanship with gold leaf and gold and silverwork finishes.
Of particular note are its mural paintings, which give this chapel great significance. They are the work of the painter Antonio Segovia and date from 1988. The dome is decorated with oil paintings depicting the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, topped by the four Evangelists on the pendentives, giving way to the central part of the vestibule, a barrel vault representing the Victory of the Cross of Christ.
The ancient city of Tejada was located in a humid and fertile valley with numerous springs. In other words, it was a valley with an extremely rich water supply, which the Romans soon took advantage of to supply water to their great city, Italica. The aqueduct was necessary to bring good quality drinking water to thermal baths, entertainment venues, fountains, public and some private buildings, industrial and commercial establishments.
Italica already had a dual drinking water supply system in the 1st century AD. The first came from the Guadiamar River and the second, supposedly, from Tejada, built in the 2nd century AD during the Hadrianic period. New archaeological findings show that it came from much further west, from the sources of the ‘Alpizarejo’ itself, waters of very good quality due to their proximity to the mountains.
A section of this pipeline has been reconstructed in a small square in Paterna del Campo, using pieces from the archaeological find.
The pipe consists of eighteen cubic pieces, approximately 80 centimetres wide, which are joined and hollowed out. This type of piece was widely used by the Romans to provide pressure in their pipelines.
It bears a striking resemblance to the aqueducts of Cadiz, Pompeii and the water conduit in Jerusalem, or the Aqueduct of Patara (Turkey), as its construction is identical.
It is a humid area with freshwater springs (hence its name) and beautiful landscapes and dense vegetation. The path leading to the spring becomes a closed gallery of wild roses, brambles, ferns, scrub and sarsaparilla, typical of humid places. The cut in the limestone terrain allows the spring to emerge, which the inhabitants of the area visit to collect water. On the cliffs, you can see how the roots of trees and bushes penetrate the ground, taking advantage of the holes left by the water. The most common tree species in the area are holm oak, cork oak and kermes oak.
The geological characteristics of the terrain have allowed the formation of small caves that characterise the area. We cannot miss visiting them, created over millions of years by the erosion caused by the waters of the River Corumbel (from the Latin flumen columbarium, “River of the Doves”).
This erosion has formed a cliff, with an average height of approximately 180 metres, on the left bank of the River Corumbel. A series of beautiful shelters or caves (lapas) have formed on this cliff, which, together with the rugged vegetation, offer nature lovers an unparalleled landscape, with the San Salvador lapas standing out for their grandeur.
The habitat of these caves dates back to prehistoric times. The carved stone materials found in the vicinity suggest that they may have been occupied by hunter-gatherers, constituting the first settlements in the Palaeolithic period in our region of Campo y Sierra de Tejada.
