Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel, Gothic parish church in Ibdes, Spain

The Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel is a Gothic parish church built in reddish stone on the hill where Ibdes castle once stood, so it rises above the village rooftops. Inside, three naves are separated by tall moulded pillars carrying ribbed vaults, and the floor is boarded except for the marble presbytery. The tower keeps the arched gallery of the old castle keep, and the portal shows Renaissance elements.

The present church was built from 1517 to 1526 on the ruins of a medieval castle destroyed by Pedro I of Castile in the mid-14th century, itself said to stand on an Arab mosque and earlier a Roman fortress. The architect was Juan Marión, with Martín Camacho as master of works and Rodrigo Marrón supplying stone and brick. It was declared a bien de interés cultural on 14 June 1974.

The main altarpiece, dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel, was contracted on 13 August 1555 with Pedro Moreto and Juan Martínez de Salamanca, followers of Damián Forment; after Moreto died in 1556, Martínez de Salamanca finished it alone. Carving ended in 1557 and Pietro Morone and Juan Catalán painted and gilded it the following year. The shared work shows in the niches beside the tabernacle, where the left-hand relief figures are smaller than the right-hand ones. Its doors, painted by Morone on sarga cloth with the Last Judgment, copy figures from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco.

The church stands on a reddish earth hill above the village, on the site of the old castle, so the climb through Ibdes streets is uphill. Part of the first wall, the moat and the tower that now carries the bell tower survive around it. The bell tower keeps three bells, only two of them usable.

The bell tower stands on one of the old castle towers, and its staircase was restored in the 1980s. It holds three bells, but only two can still be rung. Among the local bell signals kept in Ibdes, the death toll is known for a fast, almost cheerful sound delivered with great solemnity.