Iglesia Parroquial de la Virgen de las Nieves

The Church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves is actually two churches joined together: a 15th-century Gothic-Mudéjar chapel and a much larger modern building wrapped around it in the 20th century. The original single-nave chapel is one of the few surviving examples of Gothic-Mudéjar style in the Comunitat Valenciana, with plain lines that served both worship and defence. The dedication to Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, Our Lady of the Snows, echoes a much older Roman tradition tied to a 4th-century church in Rome and still marked on 5 August in parishes around the Mediterranean.

From bastion to parish church

Beyond its religious use, the original chapel formed part of Calpe's medieval town wall and doubled as a bastion and refuge during the frequent Barbary pirate raids the town suffered. Once that threat faded and the population grew, the small church became too cramped. In the 1970s a large extension was planned, folding the old Gothic building into the new, far larger church as a side chapel; construction finished in 1977.

The streets around the church, once Calpe's Mudéjar quarter, still follow their whitewashed medieval layout, with narrow lanes such as Santísimo Cristo and Pescadores keeping their old names. The building stands in the old town, close to the medieval walls and the Torreó de la Peça, which shared the same defensive role and were first recorded together in a 1338 order to reinforce the town's fortifications.

Calpe itself and the Roman remains at Baños de la Reina are a short walk away.