Church of Saint Augustine

Church belonging to the medieval Castellón whose temple and convent they were completely remodelled in the 17th century.

The presence of the Augustinians was already documented in 1298 and throughout the 14th century there were different offerings and donations that are done for the “church's works” and the construction of the church and chapels and in 1378, the prior requests the Council to make him exempt from paying “peyta” (medieval tax), so he can build a chapel with a bell tower.

We do not know if this was carried out, the truth is that construction was affected by King Pedro de Castilla’s (King Peter of Castile) war and it wasn't until May 10, 1393 when King Juan (King John) granted a license to rebuild it inside the village.

In 1522, the temple was in ruins and in 1555, the master Bernat Brugada was hired to complete the reconstruction of the church.

The construction would go very slowly and would not be finished it in its entirety. It was not until the 17th century when the reconstruction of the church and convent would be taken up again with force.

The Church of San Augustine’s main Tuscan-style façade, completed in 1651, illustrates the simple and unadorned style that was prevalent: its pediment divided by spirals copies the greater altarpiece of the chapel of the Colegio del Patriarca (School of the Patriarch).

The Augustine church of Castellón is a single space, covered with a barrel vault with lunettes, chapels between the buttresses, the chorus above the foot of the altar and the dome above the cross in the ceiling. This half-circle dome is the first one that was built in Castellón.

It is difficult to determine the real echo of the decorative and constructive solutions in Castellón due to the practical disappearance of the different convents with the ones the village had during the 17th and 18th centuries, like that of Saint Augustine.