The old Gothic factory of Santa María was insufficient for worship, projecting a new parish temple. However, the lack of financial means determined the stoppage of the works and only the Main Chapel was built, which was joined with the rest of the Gothic ochavo factory, and a good part of the bell tower. This circumstance has generated a truly unique profile of the temple as both architectures are united so different in height, partially offset by the slender bell tower that rises to the feet. Documentary we know the intervention of several master stonemasons, highlighting among them Andrés de Salamanca and Andrés de Vandelvira, director and tracist of the new Renaissance temple.

The beginning of the construction process to replace the old Gothic church (XIV-XV centuries), traditionally set around the year 1573, must be traced back to the 60s of the same century. The first news that we know about the development of the works is provided by the residents' register of 1564, since a stonemason master named Andrés de Salamanca is mentioned among the residents of Calle del Pilar, of whom it is said: "at present he works in the work of the greater church together with his officers, all of them single ”. The first tasks focused on the progressive demolition of the Gothic factory, which began at the head, according to the letter signed by Andrés de Salamanca on August 27, 1566 by which the old altarpiece of the church was forced to be moved. so that the work continues.

In 1568 the new Main Chapel began, since in this year (October 16) the stonemason Fernán Cobo and his guarantor Gabriel Jordán were forced to remove stone for the work of the church while it lasted. From 1568 to 1571, the works developed at a good pace. On September 24, 1571, the conditions to cover the Main Chapel were published, which shows that it was already built; the work, which consisted of timbering the whole of the Chapel, was finished in the carpenter Ginés de Zamora.

Traditionally it has been speculated with a more than probable intervention in the work of the new temple of the architect Andrés de Vandelvira. Such intervention should not surprise us, since in the years in which the architect from Alcázar began, he was already listed as the main master of the Cathedral of Jaén, a position that carried that of master builder of the Bishopric. In good logic it is easily deducible that a project of the magnitude of Santa María would have to go through the hands of Vandelvira. Our conjectures can be supported, apart from the analysis of the piece itself, through two documents. The first, published by the chronicler Sánchez Caballero, makes it clear that Vandelvira traveled to Linares in 1573 to inspect the level of construction, see how to throw down old pillars and point out how the new work should be followed. In accordance with this approach, on October 2, 1574, the stonemason Andrés de Salamanca was forced to carry out what Vandelvira dictated and outlined, that is, to continue with the demolition of Gothic elements to advance with the Renaissance project of the transept. In 1579, the Visitor of the Bishopric, Francisco de Huete, however, ordered that "not being able to continue the project that existed on the rest of the church, said work be liquidated." The Vandelvirian project, which we understand contemplated the complete replacement of the Gothic structure, was definitively interrupted. At the end of the 16th century the tower was finished and in the following century the façade was carved according to the design of the cathedral architect Juan de Aranda Salazar. The Gothic portal, facing south, proceeds

The Capilla Mayor de Santa María, is shown to the viewer as an independent body, giving us the sensation of a large centralized space, in the style of S. Francisco de Baeza or the church of La Guardia, common according to F. Marías to the main chapels Renaissance. In Linares, this effect is reinforced by the fact that the Gothic roof remains far below the Renaissance work and also by the absence of the projected single nave with a cruciform floor plan with chapels-niches that Vandelvira we believe proposed for this new parish.

As a reminder of the Vandelvirian plan there remain the vestiges of the first two chapels that should have been opened on both sides of this nave, the beginnings of which give the idea that they would be covered with half-barrel vaults by transept. Years before, Vandelvira had already rehearsed the plan for the church of Linares in the Dominican church of La Guardia, albeit on a smaller scale. This centralized space of Santa María is made up of four semicircular transverse arches that open to the cased presbytery, to two equally cased side chapels and on the side of the naves it connects with the "ochavo"; These arches are supported by corner pillars of the siloesque tradition with attached columns and transpilasters in which the Doric and Corinthian order alternate. The transept was covered with a vaulted vault. The ochavo that connects the transept with the Gothic naves was materialized by placing the weight of the three panels of the same on the central pointed arch of the first Gothic section and on two diagonal arches supported between the first Gothic pillars and the corner semipillars. The covers, if Andrés de Vandelvira's project had been completed, we would have in Linares an important sample, almost at the end, of his career as an architect, but in any case the Gothic-Renaissance ensemble is of great interest.

OTHER NON-ARCHITECTURAL ARTISTIC MANIFESTATIONS

The movable heritage preserved in this parish is especially valuable. Replacing the missing Baroque altarpiece in the main chapel, destroyed in 1936, there is a beautiful Renaissance altarpiece with panel paintings, the work of the Master of Ávila, in the opinion of Professor Luz de Ulierte. This altarpiece comes from the Leonese town of Villarrabines, and was acquired by Mr. José Yanguas Messía and his wife Ms. Rosario Pérez de Herrasti. Before being placed, it was rebuilt by José Navas Parejo and his sons from Granada. Other pieces are owed to this artist: tabernacle and tabernacle (carved with silver from the Linares mines), marbles from the main chapel and altarpiece from the Yanguas chapel, carved and gilded wooden altarpieces dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen, San Isidro and the Immaculate Conception of the Miraculous Medal.

Outstanding is the set of his imagery, all of it after 1939. The impressive set of the Holy Supper stands out, the work of the sculptor Víctor de los Ríos, to whom the Cristo de las Misericordias is also due (venerated in the burial chapel of Lolo, Linarense in the process of sanctification) and a beautiful Angel. The Corpus seat monstrance, although recomposed, is a beautiful example of the Morales workshop (16th century).