Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon (Church of the Sacred Heart), Bilbao

The Church of the Sacred Heart (Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon) is a Catholic temple of worship in the city of Bilbao. It was built in the neo-Gothic style at the end of the 19th century and is part of the San Ignacio Residence of the Society of Jesus.

The Society of Jesus, which until the 18th century ran the Colegio de San Andrés in the Biscayan capital, later converted into the current parish of Santos Juanes, decided to erect its own temple in Bilbao as a result of the founding of the Residencia de San Ignacio , on Calle del Canciller Ayala, at the time of the opening in 1886 of the University of Deusto. Attached to said residence, on the corner formed by Calle Canciller Ayala and Alameda de Urquijo, the church began to be erected in 1889 and was essentially completed a year later, being consecrated on September 8, 1890. Subsequently, they were auctioned off. the towers -today devoid of needles- and the artistic decoration was applied.

The architect, José María Basterra y Madariaga, very active in the erection of diocesan buildings in his native Bilbao, opted for a free neo-Gothic style, manifested in the mixed use of stone and exposed brick in the exterior fabric, creating a striking contrast, and in the profuse decoration of the interior, with the systematic application of polychrome in bright and warm tones to walls, arches and vaults, which gives the temple an aspect of a certain oriental exoticism. In this sense, the Jesuit church differs from the nearby Iglesia de San Francisco de Asís, built a few years later, which conforms to a more orthodox neo-Gothic style.

The main façade is arranged in three levels and, in the vertical axis, in three streets; In the center, on a decorative gallery of small trefoil arches, between four needle-shaped pillars and under a triangular finial as a pediment that separates the bases of the towers, a wide rose window opens. The plan consists of three naves, the main one being wider and higher than the lateral ones. The main nave, which measures 40 meters long by 20 meters high, is subdivided into six sections covered with long ribbed vaults painted in light blue, while the vaults of the side naves, also with simple ribbed ones, are painted green. studded with stars The building lacks a transept and its head ends in a heptagonal apse. At the feet, high choir and organ. The furniture and imagery is all modern, with a neo-Gothic trace. The main altarpiece, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, is flanked by the side altars of the Christ of Agony and the Holy Family. The Gothic windows have German stained glass.

At the end of October 2014, the remodeling works of the temple were finished, ready for the celebration of the 125th anniversary. The building suffered significant deterioration of the stone and underwent a rehabilitation of both the exterior and interior façades.