The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción and the old convent of Santa María Magdalena de la Cruz are part of the convent founded by the Dominican Order in the town of La Guardia de Jaén. Construction at the current location began around 1539. Initially Gothic in style, the layout initially followed a project drafted by Domingo de Tolosa. It was later deeply revised by Andrés de Vandelvira, who imprinted his personal Renaissance stamp on the temple and cloister loggia.
Although the contract signed by Vandelvira set an execution period of two and a half years, the architect's work took a total of twenty-six years, which led to a new commission for Francisco del Castillo el Mozo, who built the arch over the choir; the enclosure of the façade, it ended the gallery of the cloister and adorned it with a fountain dedicated to María Magdalena, the patron saint of the convent. This fountain dates back to 1577, the end of the last construction period, and of all construction on the convent.
After the Civil War, the church became a parish church, thus recovering from a long period of abandonment due to its confiscation. The rest of the convent rooms were either sectioned off or later underwent major renovation, resulting in the current state of the complex, whose cloister and many of its attached rooms were occupied until the end of 2007 by the San Sebastián Olive Oil Cooperative.
The convent of Santa María Magdalena is an important heritage site in La Guardia de Jaén and one of the greatest examples of the architecture of the master builder Andrés de Vandelvira, who gave the church an iconographic program of great value, and the only example that we know in his production of an octagonal headboard.
References:Ogrodzieniec Castle is a ruined medieval castle originally built in the 14th–15th century by the W³odkowie Sulimczycy family. Established in the early 12th century, during the reign of Boles³aw III Wrymouth, the first stronghold was razed by the Tatars in 1241. In the mid-14th century a new gothic castle was built here to accommodate the Sulimczycy family. Surrounded by three high rocks, the castle was well integrated into the area. The defensive walls were built to close the circuit formed by the rocks, and a narrow opening between two of the rocks served as an entrance.
In 1470 the castle and lands were bought by the wealthy Cracovian townsmen, Ibram and Piotr Salomon. Then, Ogrodzieniec became the property of Jan Feliks Rzeszowski, the rector of Przemy¶l and the canon of Cracow. The owners of the castle about that time were also Jan and Andrzej Rzeszowskis, and later Pilecki and Che³miñski families. In 1523 the castle was bought by Jan Boner.