Salamanca, Spain
Jesse Clarke
Universidad of Salamanca
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Salamanca's New Cathedral
The New Cathedral is together with the Old Cathedral. It was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in the two styles of late Gothic and Baroque. Building began in 1513 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1733. It was commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile of Spain. The cathedral was declared a national monument by royal decree in 1887.
Plaza Mayor
Salamanca's Plaza Mayor was constructed between 1729 and 1755. Not only is it one of the city's most beautiful locales, but it also considered among the most beautiful plazas in all of Spain. Its Baroque style architecture of the 18th century, includes Spanish decorations of cut tablets, equilateral arches and four levels. The Plaza Mayor, with its galleries and arcades, is particularly impressive. Much of the daily and night life of Salamanca happens in Plaza Mayor.
Salamanca's Market
Astronaut Mystery on the Cathedral
This astronaut sculpture is on the wall of the Salamanca Cathedral. The mystery behind it is, while some commentators have suggested that the astronaut has been added using image manipulation software, other observers have come up with more outlandish explanations, including time travel, alien visitations in ancient times and amazingly precise predictions of the future by the artists who decorated the original buildings. Different observers have drawn the most obvious conclusion, which is that the astronaut carving was added to the building in much more recent times.
The astronaut, along with other contemporary symbols was added in 1992 during restoration work on the "new" cathedral. The person responsible for the restoration, Jeronimo Garcia, reportedly chose an astronaut as a fitting symbol of the twentieth century.