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: 12.349 km2
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352.414 (2005) |
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Salamanca
The monumental city of Salamanca exhibits the most important collection of Renaissance and Plateresque architecture of Spain and one of the oldest universities of Europe, combining beautifully this historical patrimony with the animation and liveliness created by its enormous student population.
Founded in pre-Roman times and conquered by Hannibal in 217 BC, it knew a great turning point with the construction of the university in 1218.
The building displays an extraordinary 16th-century Plateresque façade, ressembling a tapestry carved in stone with images of mythical heroes, religious scenes and coats of arms crowned by a sandstone medallion with the busts of the Catholic Monarchs.
Salamanca boasts of two cathedrals, built next to each other and in different styles, but this doesn't affect their harmony.
The Catedral Nueva, from the 16th century, combines Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements and its façades exhibit complicated works in sandstone.
The ancient Catedral Vieja, begun in 1120, reflects the Romanesque style and shelters treasures such as the magnificent retable with 55 panels painted by Nicolás Florentino (1445) and a sumptuous main altarpiece.
Most of Salamanca's monuments are concentrated in the city centre, between the river and the wonderful Plaza Mayor (1729-1755), with its graceful display of beautiful buildings, arcades and cafés and the Royal Pavillion ornamented with a bust of Felipe V, who ordered the square to be built.
There are many religious monuments but it is specially worth visiting the church and convent of San Esteban, with a Plateresque façade, and the Convento de las Dueñas, with a beautiful ornamented cloister.
Other attractions of Salamanca are the Casa de las Conchas (with walls covered with stone shells), the Roman brige over the River Tormes and the Torre del Clavero, a 15th-century octagonal fortress with decorated turrets in Mudéjar style.
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