The construction of this building was sponsored in the early 17th century by the Bishop of Alghero, Nicolò Canavera, a native of Iglesias. Thanks to a bequest made in 1610 by the canon Melchiorre Fença Canavera, a Dominican friary was annexed to the church.
The building, in its evident late-Gothic style, represents a testimony of the artistic revival phase that developed in Sardinia between the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century.
On the walls of the aisle, several tomb slabs were placed that originally were inserted in the pavement. The first on the right is of the canon Francesco Fontana, who died in 1801, the second bears the 18th-century epitaph of the canon Benedetto Apostoli, whose portrait is sculpted in high relief on the marble. The third tomb slab is of Bishop Nicolò Canavera (died on July 13th, 1613). The last epigraph is on the left wall and is of Giovanni Battista Cogoti, dating back to 1772.
It should be noted that this church lacks a presbytery, which was completely demolished to allow for the opening of the adjacent via Eleonora to traffic. The access arch to the presbytery was thus incorporated into the new back wall, where the current altar was placed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in whose central niche stands the simulacrum of Saint Dominic.
