Concatedral de San Nicolás

St Nicholas Co-cathedral is Alicante's main church, standing in the heart of the old town (Casco Antiguo). A blue dome some 45 m high rises above the austere 17th-century building, which houses a Baroque Communion chapel and a quiet cloister.

The Co-cathedral of St Nicholas of Bari is Alicante's main church, located in the heart of the old town. It stands on the site of a former mosque and a medieval church that was already a parish in 1264. The present building was designed by Agustín Bernardino, a pupil of Juan de Herrera, and its first stone was laid in 1616. Until 1661 the works were led in turn by several master builders, including Miguel del Real, who designed the dome. The style combines late Renaissance simplicity in the Herrerian manner with early Baroque touches, which is why the exterior looks rather austere. Its most recognisable feature is the blue dome, about 45 m high, with an oculus that lets light into the interior. The church is dedicated to St Nicholas of Bari, patron saint of Alicante, whose feast falls on 6 December; the procession that day ends at the co-cathedral. It became a collegiate church in 1600, and in 1959 Pope John XXIII raised it to co-cathedral of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante. The cloister preserves the layout of a 15th-century Valencian Gothic cloister, while its present structure dates from the mid-17th century. The Communion chapel, designed by Juan Bautista Borja, is regarded as a notable example of Spanish Baroque. It contains an 18th-century altarpiece of St John of Nepomuk by Agustín Espinosa. The central chapel of the ambulatory holds the Baroque altarpiece of St Nicholas, probably made in 1676, and another ambulatory chapel houses an Italian tabernacle of 1688 in marble and jasper with eight Solomonic columns. The co-cathedral also has a 16th-century organ considered the oldest in the Valencian Community. According to one review, besides the entrance to the church itself there is an audio-guided visit covering the cloister, the upper level of the church and the bell tower. Visitors praise the view from the bell tower but warn that it is reached by a steep, narrow spiral staircase. One reviewer notes that the upper level is closed during Mass, so it is best to plan your visit outside service times. The Basilica of Santa María and the MACA contemporary art museum are in the same old-town area.