Church of Santa María, Andújar

In the old centre of Andújar, a town on the Guadalquivir in the province of Jaén, the church of Santa María la Mayor keeps a painting El Greco signed in Greek letters. His Agony in the Garden, painted in the decade around 1600, shows Christ praying with an angel above him while the apostles Peter, James and John sleep below, and Judas approaches in the distance. Beside the Greek signature runs a Spanish line, Es del Griego de Toledo, meaning it is by the Greek of Toledo. In 1914 José Julia Sanfeliú, a churchman from nearby Baeza, made the first study of the canvas.

Local tradition says the church stands on the site of the town's main mosque, converted after Andújar passed to King Ferdinand III of Castile in 1225, though no document proves it. The present Gothic hall church, with three naves, was begun in 1467 and only finished in 1624. Its sturdy brick tower, with Mudéjar decoration, went up during the 16th century.