Salamanca is located in the north-west of Spain on the River Tormes (a tributary of the Douro) and is the capital of the province of Salamanca in the Castile-León region. The city has its roots in Celtic times and is known for its ornate sandstone architecture and the university founded in the 13th century. Salamanca has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Plaza Mayor
The Plaza Mayor is located in the centre of Salamanca. It was designed by Alberto Churriguera in the Baroque style.
On the north side stands the town hall, a baroque building with five granite arches and a flat bell tower flanked by four allegorical sculptures. It is decorated with various medallions, including those of Charles V, Alfonso XI, Ferdinand VI, Miguel de Cervantes and St Theresa. The three-storey façades of the buildings are supported by a round arch and are surrounded by a balustrade.
The Old and New Cathedral of Salamanca
Calle Rua Mayor leads directly from Plaza Mayor to the cathedrals.
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Catedral Nueva
One of the largest and tallest buildings in the city is the New Cathedral of Salamanca, the Catedral Nueva. Construction began in 1513 and was completed in 1733. The church was built next to the Old Cathedral, which had become too small for the growing population of Salamanca. The magnificent architecture, a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, is remarkable.
The main façade is decorated with reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. If you look closely, you will discover an astronaut and a monkey gargoyle with an ice-cream cone to the left of the door. These two figures were added during the renovation in 1992.
The church contains religious artefacts from several centuries. These include medallions with busts of prophets, evangelists and biblical figures as well as almost 100 detailed stained glass windows. The walnut carved choir stalls from the first half of the 18th century are also particularly beautiful. The chair backs feature reliefs of Jesus and the saints of the Spanish church, among other things.
There are a number of chapels around the main nave. Worth seeing are the magnificent sculptures of the tombs in the Golden Chapel and the collection of Italian paintings in the Capilla de Jesus Nazareno. In the chapel of San Clemente there is an altar from the 17th century. In the Capilla de la Virgen de Morales is the painting La Virgen con el Niño y San Juanito by Luis de Morales, a Spanish painter from the 16th century. Other works of art can be seen in the sacristies.
The Old Cathedral behind it (Catedral Vieja) is directly adjacent. It is a beautiful Romanesque church dedicated to Santa María del Asedio. It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. It houses the Capilla Mayor with its 15th century altar, which consists of 53 painted panels depicting the life of Jesus. The chapel also houses the tomb of the Infanta Doña Mafalda, the daughter of King Alfonso VIII.
In the Capilla de San Martín there are Gothic murals and bishops' tombs. In the Capilla de Santa Bárbara is the altar of the saint from the 16th century. The university's medical students used to take their final oral exams here. The cloister dates back to the 12th century.
The university
The University of Salamanca was founded in 1218 and has gained an excellent reputation for education and culture beyond the borders of Spain.
The university building has a square floor plan and a central courtyard surrounded by galleries. The Plateresque façade is of particular
artistic interest. A frog can be seen on the façade. The frog was regarded as a symbol of sin and, perched on the skull, was intended as
a reminder of the danger that threatened young men if they indulged in gluttony and lust, as venereal diseases were widespread in the
Middle Ages and were often fatal. The only remedy was pious abstinence.
Click on the picture and look for the frog!
Casa Lis
The Casa Lis is a museum within the old city walls of Salamanca, Spain. Also known as the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum, it is a museum of decorative arts with exhibits from the last decades of the 19th century until the Second World War.
The shell house
The Casa de las Conchas is a Gothic building. Its construction began at the end of the 15th century, but it also has Renaissance and Mudejar elements.
This civilian building stands out above all for the more than 300 shells that decorate its exterior walls. The façade cracked in the 18th century and the upper part had to be repaired. This is why the shells are missing here. The entrance door is decorated with Gothic coats of arms in the upper part, in which stylised lilies can be seen. Today, the Casa de las Conchas houses one of Salamanca's public libraries.
San Esteban Monastery
More about the monastery on a separate page
