The church of San Juan in Lorca requires urgent repair after recent rain damage

Plans had been announced to restore the Gothic church as a venue for cultural events in Lorca

As recently as November 2023 the Town Hall of Lorca announced a 2.6-million-euro plan to restore the old church of San Juan and recover its interior architecture with baroque decoration, making full use of a place of worship which crowns the Lorca neighbourhood to which it gives its name as a centre that would host socio-cultural activities.

Now, though, the Mayor of the city, Fulgencio Gil Jódar, has appealed to the national government of Spain to carry out emergency repairs on the structure following the latest damage caused by the heavy rain of the last three weeks, and which has brought about falling masonry. In consequence the remains of the church have been cordoned off in order to protect the population and the Mayor maintains that the rehabilitation of the building is a commitment entered into by the Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana.

Unfortunately, though, the Ministry’s spending is hampered at present by the difficulties being faced in approving the national State budget in parliament, jeopardizing the availability of the funds needed.

The church of San Juan dates originally from the 15th century and was rebuilt in the 17th century. Initially it belonged to the late Gothic period, but it no longer presents any features of that time because it had to be rebuilt after the earthquake of 1647. In the past, the Town Hall has explained that “it has special importance for the City not only because it is an important monument, but because in its origins, in the 15th century, the Council met in its atrium”, although of the primitive Gothic church only its cylindrical tower remains, “which was a crenellated watchtower until the second half of the 18th century, which was later adapted as a bell tower.”

The decline of the church of San Juan came when the Former Collegiate Church of San Patricio gained importance in the city. The destruction of the images that adorned the main altarpiece, the parish archive and all its documents, occurred around the time of the Badajoz massacre of August 14, 1936 during Spain’s Civil War, and after the conflict San Juan disappeared as a parish church.

During the earthquakes of May 11, 2011, it suffered additional damages to the dilapidation already suffered.

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