What to See in Salamanca - Top Sights and Attractions

18th-century baroque public square. The Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, Spain is a large plaza located in the center of Salamanca, used as a public square. It was built in the traditional Spanish baroque style and is a popular gathering area. It is lined by restaurants, ice cream parlors, tourist shops, jewelry stores and a pharmacy along its perimeter except in front of the city hall. It is considered the heart of Salamanca and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful plazas in Spain. It is connected to the shopping area Calle del Toro from the northeast, Calle de Zamora from the north, the restaurants on Calle de Concejo from the northwest, Calle del Prior and the small Calle de la Caja de Ahorros from the west as well as Plaza del Corrillo from the south.^[2]

Sculpture in Salamanca, Spain. The verraco of the bridge in Salamanca, Spain, is an Iron Age stone statue depicting a bull, placed at the entrance of the Roman bridge. Verraco is a general term that refers to the stone statues of animals made by the Vettones, one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. In Spanish the word verraco means "breeding pig", but other animals such as bulls and bears were also represented.

The verraco of the bridge is also known as the "bull of Salamanca", or the "bull of the bridge". It is the oldest statue in the city and appears in its coat of arms. Its dimensions are 2.10 metres (6 ft 11 in) long, 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) meters tall, and 70 centimetres (2.3 ft) wide. The head is missing and the body broken in half, but was rebuilt.^[5]

Bridge in Salamanca, Spain. The Roman bridge of Salamanca, also known as Puente Mayor del Tormes is a Roman bridge crossing the Tormes River on the banks of the city of Salamanca, in Castile and León, Spain. The importance of the bridge as a symbol of the city can be seen in the first quartering of city's coat of arms. It has been known traditionally as puente mayor and as puente prinçipal which gives access to the southern part of the city. The bridge as it currently appears is a result of several restorations. One of the disasters that most affected it was the Flood of San Policarpo on the night of January 26, 1626. It was declared Artistic Historic Monument on June 3, 1931, and Bien de Interés Cultural since 1998. Until the beginning of 20th century it carried the main road into the city, and continued to bear heavy traffic until 1973. After the construction of a third bridge for road traffic it remains exclusive for pedestrians.

The bridge is actually a construction of two bridges separated by a central fortification: the old bridge which extends along the portion near the city and is of Roman origin, and the new bridge. Of the twenty-six arches, only the first fifteen date from Roman times. The stone used in its construction differs in origin, while employed in Roman bridge area is originally from the granite quarries of Los Santos (Béjar), the stone used in the hispana part and more modern bridge, comes from the area of Ledesma. The bridge has been restored on numerous occasions and has survived several attempts at demolition. Many of the restorations have been poorly documented, leaving for the study of archaeologists a great part of the work of determination, dating and explaining the ancient construction techniques. The date of the construction of the bridge is not precisely known, but is among the mandates of the Emperors Augustus (27 B. C.-14 D. C.) and Vespasian (69-79), making it a bimillennium architectural monument.^[9]

Shell-covered Spanish Gothic palace. The Casa de las Conchas is a historical building in Salamanca, central Spain. It currently houses a public library.

It was built from 1493 to 1517 by Rodrigo Arias de Maldonado, a knight of the Order of Santiago de Compostela and a professor in the University of Salamanca. Its most peculiar feature is the façade, mixing late Gothic and Plateresque style, decorated with more than 300 shells, symbol of the order of Santiago, as well as of the pilgrims performing the Way of St. James. In the façade are also the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs and four windows in Gothic style, each one having a different shape. The entrance portal has the coat of arms of the Maldonado family, while in the architrave are dolphins, a Renaissance symbol of love, and vegetable elements.

The inner court is characterized, in the lower floor, by arches supported by square pilasters, while in the upper ones they are supported by shorter columns in Carrara marble.^[11]