The church of Cáñar was built at the end of the 16th century on an old rábita, with settlers from Galicia, León, Portugal, Western Andalusia, etc. after the war of La Alpujarra.
The church consists of a rectangular nave and the presbytery, separated by a semicircular arch. In the presbytery there is a baroque, wooden, polychrome altarpiece, built in 1753-1755 and designed in 1696 by Francisco Navarrete.
On the left side of the nave, there is another older altarpiece in the process of being restored. The image of the Virgen del Rosario stands out, the work of Gaviria or Martín de Aranda, a true relic of imagery in the naturalist style of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with a beautiful stew of the time, very well preserved.
Also noteworthy are the images of Santa Ana and San Joaquín, who are the patron saints of the town. The coffered ceiling is Mudejar style. About the tower, Pascual Madoz assures that “it was lowered to the bell tower in 1832 because it was said that it was too high and the winds could destroy it.”
In the choir is one of the jewels of this church, a spectacular baroque organ built by Tomás Pabón in 1799. Its box is neoclassical with some baroque carvings. It consists of 18 sets of registers and a wedge bellows, manual action.
