Salamanca is home to the oldest university in Spain still in operation, founded in 1218. In its lecture halls and convents a group of friars and professors dared to ask by what right America was being conquered, and those lectures produced ideas that underpin international law today. Twelve stops between the finest square in Castile, the house covered in shells, the Jesuit college, the façade with the frog, the classroom of the professor who came back from the Inquisition's prison, the painted sky of the old library, the astronaut of the New Cathedral, the chapel where students gambled their degree, the garden of La Celestina, Francisco de Vitoria's convent, the cloister of the School of Salamanca and Lazarillo's Roman bridge. Approximate audio duration: 20 minutes.
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Salamanca: la universidad donde se discutió si la conquista de América era justa
Salamanca tiene la universidad más antigua de España que sigue funcionando, fundada en 1218. En sus aulas y conventos, un grupo de frailes y profesores se atrevió a preguntar con qué derecho se conquistaba América, y de esas clases salieron ideas que hoy son la base del derecho internacional. Doce paradas entre la plaza más bella de Castilla, la casa cubierta de conchas, el colegio de los jesuitas, la fachada de la rana, el aula del profesor que volvió de la cárcel de la Inquisición, el cielo pintado de la vieja biblioteca, el astronauta de la Catedral Nueva, la capilla donde se jugaban el título, el huerto de La Celestina, el convento de Francisco de Vitoria, el claustro de la Escuela de Salamanca y el puente romano del Lazarillo. Duración aproximada de audio: 20 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~20 min of audio · 2.47 km on foot (~35 min walking) · about 1 h in total
You are standing in the middle of Salamanca's Plaza Mayor. Turn slowly. Eighty-eight stone arches close it in on all four sides, like a great open-air hall.
That golden stone is called Villamayor stone. It comes from quarries a few kilometres away. It is soft when cut and hardens in the air. That is why the whole city looks carved from a single block, and why it turns the colour of honey at sunset.
Work on the square began in 1729, under Philip V. Salamanca had backed the Bourbons in the War of the Spanish Succession, and the king favoured the city. That is why the Royal Pavilion side carrie…
2
The House Covered in Shells
In front of you is a façade that looks like a skin of stone. It is covered in shells, more than three hundred of them, set in regular rows from top to bottom.
This is the House of Shells. It was built at the end of the fifteenth century by Rodrigo Arias Maldonado, a Salamanca nobleman who was a knight of the Order of Santiago.
The scallop shell is the symbol of Saint James and of the pilgrims who walked to Compostela. Putting it on the façade was a way of showing which order you belonged to, and how much money you had to say so in stone.
Look at the window grilles too. They are Gothic, fine…
3
La Clerecía, the Queen's College
Look up. Those two Baroque towers belong to La Clerecía, one of the largest buildings in the city.
Its official name was the Royal College of the Holy Spirit. It was commissioned for the Jesuits by Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III. Work began in 1617.
It took more than a century and a half. The towers and the belfry were only finished in the eighteenth century, by Andrés García de Quiñones, the same man who closed the Plaza Mayor.
The Jesuits wanted a college to rival the university, right across the street from it. Salamanca was then one of the great centres of learning in Eur…
4
The Façade with the Frog
You are in the Patio de Escuelas, facing the main door of the University of Salamanca. That stone façade, carved like a tapestry, is one of the masterpieces of the Spanish Plateresque style.
The university was born in 1218, when King Alfonso IX of León founded general schools here. In 1254 Alfonso X gave it statutes, and the following year Pope Alexander IV recognised its degrees throughout Christendom.
There was an earlier school in Palencia, a few years older, but it disappeared. That is why Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain still running today.
Look at the large medallion at th…
5
The Professor Who Came Back from Prison
You have entered the cloister of the Escuelas Mayores. Look for the classroom of Fray Luis de León. You will see worn wooden benches, carved from single trunks, and a tall lectern with a little canopy.
Students sat on those benches for hours, many writing on their knees. The professor spoke from up high so he could be heard across the whole room.
Fray Luis de León was an Augustinian friar, a poet and a professor at this university. In 1572 the Inquisition arrested him. Among other things, he was accused of preferring the Hebrew text of the Bible to the official Latin translation, and of tran…
6
The Painted Sky of the Old Library
You are back in the Patio de Escuelas. To one side stands the Escuelas Menores, where students prepared before entering the university. Inside it keeps one of Salamanca's rarest treasures.
It is called the Sky of Salamanca. It is a huge painting of constellations, planets and signs of the zodiac on a dark blue ground. Fernando Gallego painted it towards the end of the fifteenth century.
It originally covered the vault of the university's old library. Over time that vault was damaged, and only part of it survives today, roughly a third of the whole.
Look at the figures: Hercules, Leo, Scorpi…
7
The Astronaut of the New Cathedral
In front of you is the New Cathedral. It is so large that, instead of demolishing the earlier cathedral, the builders attached it to the old one. Salamanca therefore has two cathedrals joined side by side.
Work began in 1513, when the city and its university were at their peak. Juan Gil de Hontañón directed the works, followed by his son Rodrigo. It was only consecrated in 1733, more than two hundred years later.
That is why it mixes styles. Below it is late Gothic, with doorways laden with stone lace. Above, the dome and the tower are already Baroque.
In 1755 the Lisbon earthquake shook Sa…
8
The Chapel Where Students Gambled Their Degree
You are in the Patio Chico. From here you can see the Old Cathedral, lower and older, attached to the new one. Look at the dome with its stone scales: it is the Torre del Gallo, Romanesque, from the twelfth century.
Inside, the Old Cathedral holds an altarpiece of fifty-three panels painted in the mid-fifteenth century, topped by a Last Judgement gazing down on the faithful.
But for the history of the university, the most important place is in the cloister: the chapel of Saint Barbara. For centuries, the final examination for the licentiate degree was held there.
The student spent the night…
9
The Garden of La Celestina
You have entered a small garden leaning against the old city wall. There is a well, climbing plants and, above the trees, the towers of the cathedrals. This is the Garden of Calixto and Melibea.
The name comes from La Celestina, first published in 1499. It is one of the foundational works of Spanish literature. It tells of the desperate love of two young people, Calisto and Melibea, and the old go-between who brings them together.
Its main author, Fernando de Rojas, studied law at this university. The work names no city, but many readers have recognised the streets and orchards of the Salama…
10
Francisco de Vitoria and the Forbidden Question
In front of you is the façade of the Convent of San Esteban, home of the Dominican friars. It is like a huge open-air altarpiece in stone. In the centre is the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, being stoned. In the square, a statue honours the man who made this place famous: Francisco de Vitoria.
Vitoria was a Dominican born in Burgos around 1483. He studied and taught in Paris, and in 1526 he won the leading chair of theology at Salamanca. He lived in this convent until his death in 1546.
To understand what he did, go back a few years. In 1511, on the island of Hispaniola, another Dominican, Anto…
11
The School of Salamanca
You are in the convent's Cloister of the Kings. Along these walkways strolled the friars who formed what is now called the School of Salamanca.
From Vitoria came an idea with a Latin name: ius gentium, the law of nations. A set of rules valid for all peoples, Christian or not, which limited what one state could do to another. He also wrote about when a war could be just, and when it could not.
That is why he is considered one of the founders of international law. Not the only one: almost a century later, in 1625, the Dutchman Hugo Grotius published his great work on the law of war and peace,…
12
The Roman Bridge and Lazarillo's Bull
You are at the entrance to the Roman Bridge over the river Tormes. Walk a few steps along the stones and then turn around: from here you see the whole old town, with the two cathedrals rising above the river.
The bridge was built in the first century, in the time of the Roman Empire. It was part of the Vía de la Plata, the road linking Mérida with the north of the peninsula. Legions, merchants and, centuries later, students from all over Europe crossed here.
Not all of it is Roman. In 1626 a great flood of the Tormes destroyed part of the bridge. The arches closest to the city are original; …
How long does the "Salamanca: the University That Asked Whether the Conquest of America Was Just" audio tour take?
It has about 20 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 2.47 km walking route (~35 min on foot). Plan roughly 1 h in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Square That Repaid a Debt to the King" (coordinates 40.965, -5.6641). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Salamanca and pick "Salamanca: the University That Asked Whether the Conquest of America Was Just". No account required to start.
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