The construction of St. Jaume's Church is a consequence of the increasing devotion that Alcudia and the neighbouring villages felt for Saint Christ. It was believed that Saint Christ had sweated water and blood in 1507 in the cave of Sant Marti (on the outskirts of the city) to implore for rain during a drought. The first stone was laid on 8 December 1675 and the works finished in 1697. The chapel is notable for the central dome and four side chapels along with the altar piece which is a spectacular work of baroque art. The latter shows the l'horror vacui and is the work of sculptor Mateu Joan i Serra and was made between 1699 and 1703. The altarpiece was restored in 2007 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Saint Christ.
The main altar piece was constructed over two periods, the stonemasonry is that of sculptor Llorenc Ferrer i Marti, the rest was made by Miquel Arcas. In the centre of the altarpiece is an image of Saint James, patron saint of Alcudia and the parish.
The construction is neo-Gothic with a major reconstruction of part of the building being completed in 1893.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).