Salamanca Tourist Brochure

S A L A M A N C A

The city of Thought

n A N ALTARPIECE TO TEACH

The New Cathedral – Gothic, but renaissance and baroque as well – protects the other one, the Old one, - Romanesque, small, intimate, beautiful -; but both of them represent the search for spiritua- lity, the place where you can think about yourself.

In this painting of the Cathedral the characteristic elements of the Gothic style are harmoniously combined with the new renais- sance concepts. It is divided into fifty-three small paintings, which resemble Italian paintings, crow- ned by a wall representation of the Last Judgement on the vault; they all show in an instructive way the life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. The Florentine painters Nicolás, Dello and Sanson Delli painted one of the most valuable pictorial representations of the European XV century. This altar- piece is presided by the Romanesque image of the Virgin of La Vega, patron saint of the city.

N AVE CENTRAL DE LA C ATEDRAL N UEVA

Cloister of the old Cathedral

Altarpiece of the old Cathedral

The Old Cathedral was closely bound to the University. Until 1834 the vice- chancellor was elected in the Chapel of Santa Barbara and the exam to get the degree took place there as well; this exam, according to the tradition, was prepared by the student in the chapel itself and the expression “to be in the chapel” (“to be at the proof stage”) comes from this situation. The students who passed this exam were given their degree in the cloister of the Cathedral, but the ones who fai- led it, had to leave the Cathedral through a secondary door popularly called “Los Carros Door”. T O BE AT THE PROOF STAGE AND “ LEAVE THROUGH PUERTA DE LOS CARROS ”

S ACRISTÍAS

P ATIO C HICO

Claustro de la Catedral Vieja

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