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Seville’s most striking architectural masterpiece is its vast cathedral. Inside are soaring columns, precious artworks and the world’s largest altarpiece (see Seville Cathedral & La Giralda).

This spectacular mosque may have been savagely reconsecrated but visitors can still see its Byzantine mosaics and other exquisite marvels.

Virtually unchanged for 1,000 years, this is one of the few surviving rural mosques in Andalucía and has the oldest mihrab (Mecca-facing prayer niche) in Spain.

As the commemorative plaques adorning the façade reveal, this fine Baroque church is one of the most significant buildings in Spain – and not simply due to its unusual elliptical floorplan. On 29 March 1812 a group of Spanish patriots defied a Napoleonic blockade and met here to compose the country’s first constitution. The document’s liberal ideas have inspired fledgling democracies ever since.

From its hilltop, this massive Spanish Renaissance church dominates the town. Its austere façade is relieved by a fine Plateresque portal, the Puerta del Sol. Inside, treasures include five masterpieces by José de Ribera, a Crucifixion sculpture by Juan de Mesa, beautiful Renaissance ornamentation and a wonderfully high-spirited Baroque altarpiece.

It’s intriguing to find one of the masterpieces of Andalucían Rococo design in this industrial town – especially because Lucena was famous for having been a virtually independent Jewish enclave during Moorish rule. The gem of this 15th-century church is its 18th-century octagonal sacristy and the complex decoration of the chapel and its dome.

Although not without aesthetic merit, these two structures are more about Christian triumph and royal ego than they are about spirituality. At the Royal Chapel’s sarcophagi, note how Queen Isabel’s head presses more deeply into her marble pillow than that of King Fernando – said to indicate greater intelligence. In the cathedral is the equestrian statue of El Matamoros (“The Killer of Moors”) by Alonso de Mena (see Cathedral & Capilla Real, Granada).

This Renaissance magnum opus is largely the creation of Diego de Siloé, one of the great masters of the age. The façade’s upper window is flanked by sinuous mythological animals and medallions. Inside, the altar is complex and monumental, consisting of row upon row of high reliefs framed by columns.

The cathedral was primarily the work of famed Renaissance architect Andrés de Vandelvira, although the west façade was designed later, decorated with Baroque sculptures by Pedro Roldán. Every Friday between 11:30am and 12:45pm, one of Spain’s holiest relics, the Reliquía del Santo Rostro de Cristo, is brought out for the faithful to kiss. It is believed to be the cloth that St Veronica used to wipe Christ’s face on the road to Calvary. An impression of the holy face is said to have been miraculously left upon it (see Jaén City).

Designed by Siloé and Vandelvira, this masterpiece of Andalucían Renaissance was commissioned as a family pantheon and is still privately owned. The sacristy is the highlight, employing caryatids and atlantes as columns and pilasters. It was once embellished by a Michelangelo sculpture, a sad casualty of the Spanish Civil War (see Plaza de Vázquez de Molina, Úbeda).