Cultural Space in the former church of Santa Catalina
Architects
Sol89. María González y Juanjo López de la Cruz
Collaborators
Elena González, Rosa Gallardo y Cristóbal Galocha, architects in Sol89; Rigoberto Acevedo, architectural student; Miguel Sibón, installations
Technical Architect
Cristóbal Galocha
Client
Delegación de Jaén de la Consejería de Fomento, Articulación del Territorio y Vivienda de la Junta de Andalucía (1st phase) y Diputación de Jaén (2nd phase)
Construction Company
Rehabitec SL (1ª fase) y Tragsa (2ª Fase)
Photography
Sol89
The intervention aims to open the historic Santa Catalina church of the Santo Domingo convent in Jaén to the public as a new cultural space. This building has been closed for decades, first used as a hospice following the 19th-century disentailments, and finally shut down in the 1970s. Originating from the Gothic period, still recognizable in the ribbed vaults of the presbytery, and later constructed in the Renaissance Counter-Reformation style with a strong wall enclosure dividing the nave into three large domes supported by arches, Santa Catalina is a substantial volume now intended to serve as a cultural venue for exhibitions, concerts, and various displays.
Its very origin as a space designed for gathering people, along with the high value of its architecture, guides the intervention towards a zero-level approach. The goal is to create a floor—currently absent—that provides a support structure ensuring access to the different areas of the old church, while also incorporating a versatile technical infrastructure for the variety of activities planned today. A stone carpet, harmonized with the golden tones of the limestone and dolomite that feature in some of the church’s ornamental motifs, runs through the pavement and furniture elements, acting as a neutral background. This design echoes the patterns of Renaissance floors found in Dominican temples, with a layout that resonates with historical drawings. This new layer, which also climate-controls and modernizes the vast space, emphasizes the public nature of the old church—like a large covered square where architecture surrounds but does not dictate its use.
The intervention is further complemented by a series of actions aimed at restoring the unified reading of the old church and convent, which today has been fragmented by blocked openings and the altered access sequence to the former convent—specifically, the closure of the natural entrance through the cloister yard in 1924.
During the first phase of work, which included restoring the important Renaissance portal by Alonso Barba, archaeological excavations uncovered remains of Almohad palaces beneath the choir area—foundations upon which the church was built. Recovering these remains offers a chance to tell the story of this foundational site of Jaén, where all the cultures that inhabited the area settled at the foot of Santa Catalina hill. Displaying these remains adds new depth to the project, as the traces and walls of the Almohad palaces give the space a layered, textured quality—creating an interior landscape shaped by time itself.
