The Basílica del Juramento de San Rafael is a minor basilica and Bien de Interés Cultural dedicated to Raphael, the archangel Córdoba treats as its guardian. The building you see was finished in 1806. Go for the stone facade and the round central nave.
What the basilica is
The church stands in the collación (parish district) of San Lorenzo, in the Axerquía, the eastern half of the medieval city. Its owner brotherhood, the Hermandad de San Rafael, dates the first project to 1610, when work began on a church to honour the city's guardian, and records that the first building was blessed on 21 June 1732. The present church is a later enlargement to a project by the architect Vicente López Cardera: work started in 1796 and finished in 1806, when Bishop Pedro Antonio de Trevilla blessed the new building.
It is a Bien de Interés Cultural monument and carries the title of minor basilica. For the wider picture of the saint, the city has many triumphal statues of San Rafael, its patron and protector.
Check the route page for current hours
Winter and summer hours for the basilica are listed on the Mezquita-Catedral's Fernandine Churches Route page and they change with the season. Look at the current version before you walk over.
What to look for
The facade
The facade is cut stone and ends in a triangular pediment. The stone figures on it are Raphael, Acisclus and Victoria. Two towers flank the front.
Inside
The plan has three naves, and the central one is round and wider than the side aisles, which is what gives the interior its centralised, almost theatrical feel. A tribune with iron balconies behind lattices runs above. On the main altar a baldachin houses the titular image of Raphael, dated to 1735. The main altarpiece is carved wood to a design by Gómez de Góngora, topped by a Crucifix by the sculptor Diego Morales.
The Sagrario chapel is a later addition, built between 1853 and 1855. It holds the images of the Hermandad Universitaria.
