The features of the facade are even more elaborate than the decorative elements of the interior. Dramatic gestures are marked in engraved plaques and plaster ornaments. Atop the roof line marches a series of monumental urns. Below these, windows, doors and statuary niches punctuate the front of the church, each embellished with simple but striking motifs. Symbols give clear meaning to the building's edifice.
Saints stand with arms outstretched in exhortation and benediction.
Two large plaques above the lower windows proclaim the political aspirations of the builders' world. One, emblazoned with castles and crowned lions, implies the power of a unified Spanish kingdom and its huge empire. Another plaque displays two overlapping globes representing the Old and New Worlds. The globes are sided by the Herculean pillars of Spain and North Africa and topped by a crown combining the symbols of both the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies. The complex symbolism of this plaque speaks of the global structure of the day, where the commerce and politics of both hemispheres were dominated by the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula.