University

Across from the Plaza de Anaya and the cathedrals is the back of the university. Go around to the opposite side to discover the Patio de las Escuelas (Patio of the Schools). Salamanca’s major claim to fame is its University, the first in Spain, founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX de León. By 1254, when Alfonso X “the Wise” established the law school, Salamanca was declared one of the world’s four great universities (along with Paris, Bologna, and Oxford). Columbus lectured here, as did San Juan de la Cruz and Antonio de Nebrija. Fray Luis de León, one of Spain’s greatest lyric poets, was a faculty member here when he was imprisoned for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition. After five years in prison, he was released and returned to his classroom (which you can still visit). His first words when he was back were, “Dicebamus hesterna dia . . .” (“As we were saying yesterday . . .”). In the 20th century, Miguel de Unamuno taught here and served as rector. Not to be missed is the patio itself with the statue of Fray Luis, and the entrance to the university, perhaps the premier example of Plateresque art in Spain. Finished in 1529, it serves as an elaborate façade for the basic Gothic edifice. If you look carefully, you can find a small frog carved into the doorway. A student pointed it out to us on our last visit, and neither she nor we have the slightest idea why it is there, nor what the artist must have had in mind when he included this incongruous item.