The church of Santa María de La Antigua dates back to at least the 12th century in the city of Valladolid. It preserves from the end of that century or the beginning of the next a slender Romanesque tower topped with a tile-covered arrow, which makes it, with that of the church of San Esteban, the tallest Romanesque bell tower in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula today, and a portico on the north side, also Romanesque. The rest of the building is Gothic and neo-Gothic, as it was erected in the 14th century and, after later additions in different styles, it was intensively restored and rebuilt in the first half of the 20th century.

It is possibly one of the parishes with the longest history in Valladolid. The remains of Roman baths have been found under the present building. Although traditionally associated with Count Pedro Ansúrez, it is true that its existence appears for the first time in documentation in 1177. Nothing remains of this primitive construction. The oldest parts of the current church date from the end of the 12th century or early years of the following century and are Romanesque in style: the porticoed gallery located to the north of the building, and the slender tower, located at the foot, with a square floor plan and four storeys, with windows on the last three, topped with a pyramidal arrow.

The rest of the church was probably rebuilt in the 14th century, under the reign of Alfonso XI of Castile, following the Gothic style and with notable influences from the Cathedral of Santa María in Burgos. This 14th-century church was organised into three naves, topped by three polygonal apses, without an ambulatory, and a transept that is only visible in the elevations and not in the ground plan. The floor plan has several irregularities, as the axis of the church has a slight deviation from those of the tower and porticoed gallery. The vaults were of simple ribbed vaulting and rested on cylindrical core pillars with attached columns. The main chapel's plements are openwork, as is the case in Burgos cathedral. Illumination was provided by slender geminated ogival windows with exterior and interior spillage in the apses, simple paired openings in the central nave and two large rose windows, whose original tracery is unknown, in the two gables of the transepts.

Numerous valuable remains were discovered around the church following archaeological surveys carried out with the intention of creating an underground car park: the only evidence of construction from the Roman period in the city, corresponding to a Roman building of a certain size, together with 51 burials from the medieval necropolis of the Church of Antigua, the courtyard of a Renaissance palace under which other medieval and Roman remains are presumed to exist, the vault of the Esgueva riverbed, with the remains of the old Bolo de la Antigua Bridge and the block of 18th century buildings that remained standing until 25 years ago. The integrity of the site is currently threatened by the project for the construction of the car park, which has led to the mobilisation of citizens in favour of the creation of an Archaeological Park.