CONVENTION OF SAN ESTEBAN

On the tour of the convent you can visit the following spaces:

1.- SCULPTURE OF FRANCISCO DE VITORIA

Before reaching the convent of San Esteban, we see the sculpture that Salamanca dedicated in 1975 to francisco de Vitoria, precursor of human rights and international law. According to an ancient tradition, when the drop prevented him from walking to university, his students took him on walks to the classrooms, driven by admiration and the desire to continue learning from his theology teacher.

2.- BRIDGE ON THE RICE OF SANTO DOMINGO

To access the esplanade that opens in front of the church of San Esteban you have to cross the small bridge that rises over the Arroyo de Santo Domingo. It was ordered to be built by the Dominican Domingo de Soto upon his return from the Council of Trent. It is a one-eyed bridge built with Villamayor stone.

It is fascinating to admire, from the esplanade that precedes the church, the majesty of its facade. The reliefs and plateresque sculptures, sculpted with mastery on the stone of Villamayor, have such fineness that many doubt that they are really carved in rock. The beauty of this facade is indisputable at any time of the day, but it reaches its maximum splendor at the sunset of summer, when the stone is dyed in a deep red, offering an unforgettable show.

3.- LA FACHADA

The facade was designed by the architect Juan de Álava. It was worked from 1524 to 1610. It is one of the masterpieces of Spanish Plateresque. It is organized as a large altarpiece, divided into streets and bodies. It is sheltered by a huge arch whose intrados is decorated with artichokes and casetons. On the rinses of the arch two large shields of Cardinal Álvarez de Toledo, the promoter of the work. Medallions, reliefs and 23 sculptures on shelves and under canopies, mostly of Dominican saints, tell passages from the biblical history and from the history of the Order of Preachers itself through its saints and martyrs.

On the lower body, flanking the front door, we can contemplate four images of saints: St. Jacinth of Poland, St. Dominic of Guzman, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena. The medallions on the door depict Moses and Elijah. The second body is presided over by the great relief represented by the Martyrdom of San Esteban, signed by Antonio Cerroni in 1610. They flank it, from left to right, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Andrew, St. John the Evangelist and St. Peter the Martyr of Verona. On the relief of the stoning three medallions represents Job, King Solomon and the Sacrifice of Isaac. A magnificent Plateresque frieze, considered one of the most beautiful in Spanish Plateresque, separates the central body from the attic. It depicts mythological characters and animals. At the top of the attic, a majestic Calvary dominates the composition. Next to it, flanking it, are the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, while at the ends are those of Popes Gregory the Great and Leo the Great.

4.- PORTABLE OF ACCESS TO THE PORTERY

The portico, made by Juan de Ribero between 1590 and 1592, is composed of nine half-point arches that follow the model of the Italian Renaissance lodges and contrast, for their classicism, with the lush Plateresque decoration of the facade. On the medallions of the rinses are depicted saints of the Order of Preachers. The upper floor, located above the goal, which was the old library, today houses the museum of sacred art.

5. THE PORTERY

In the vault of the corridor of the goal five canvases represent some of the most relevant characters in the history of the convent: Francisco de Vitoria, Melchor Cano, Diego de Deza, Cardinal Álvarez de Toledo and Domingo de Soto.

6.- THE CLAUSE OF KINGS (or PROCESSIONS)

It was built on the space occupied by the cloister of the fourteenth century of which several doors can still be seen walled in the walls. It was made by the Dominican architect Fray Martín de Santiago. It is the main cloister, called "of processions" or "of the Kings". It has two overlapping galleries, the lower one with twenty windows and the upper one with forty.

On the ground floor are mixed Gothic and Renaissance elements. The arches, half-point Renaissance, are divided by columns in the manner of the Gothic cloisters. The vaults display a complicated system of starry nerves with polychrome keys. In the four corners of the cloister there are niches in which the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Kings and the Presentation of Jesus in the temple are represented. Medallions, with busts and names of Old Testament prophets, adorn the inner face of the pillars supporting the vaults.

Each of the doors that open to the cloister has on it the stone carved image of the most important saints of the Order. The two open doors in the southern panda give access to the Hall of Profundis, one of the oldest spaces of the convent, where the community prayed for the souls of the deceased when going to and from the refectory. From here you pass the Cloister of the Aljibes and the old infirmary. This part of the convent is usually closed to tourism.

In the eastern panda of the cloister two doors give access to the Old Chapter (s. XV) and the New Chapter (s. XVII).

• The Old Chapter is one of the oldest dependencies of the convent. It served as a cemetery for the most illustrious children of the community, hence it houses the remains of Francisco de Vitoria and Domingo de Soto. In the Ancient Chapter Hall the community of Dominican friars made decisions that marked the course of humanity, such as supporting Christopher Columbus or participating in the evangelization of America. Human rights and international law were created within its walls.

• The New Chapter was inaugurated in 1667. It was financed by Fray Íñigo de Brizuela, Bishop of Segovia. The cover has a niche with the figure of St. Stephen. It is already Mannerist style and its walls hang the challenges of the favorite sons of the convent. It is currently used as a conference room.

• The last door of this gallery gives access to the Staircase of Soto.

In the northern panda of the lower cloister, which borders the church, five small doors corresponding to as many confessionals are opened. Each of them has a small one for the confessor and a window with open gate to the chapels on the side of the epistle of the church. According to an ancient tradition, Saint Teresa of Jesus was confessed in one of them.

7.- THE SCALE OF SOTO

In the northeast corner of the cloister opens the door that gives access to the Soto Staircase, which communicates the low and high cloister. It dates from 1553 and was paid for by Domingo de Soto upon his return from the Council of Trent. It is a cantilevered staircase, with no supports to support its heavy granite steps. It was built by the architect Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón and was considered a display of the architecture of its time, to the point that in the 18th century it was copied in some of the most important buildings of the Salamancan baroque.

8.- SACRISTY

The sacristy, with access from the box of the staircase, is the work of the architects Alonso Sardiña and Juan Moreno, initiated in 1627 and sponsored by Fray Pedro de Herrera Suárez, professor at the University of Salamanca, prior of the convent and bishop of several Spanish cities.

Its large dimensions and classicist decoration based on ribbed pilasters stand out. The large drawers are embedded in the arches that open in the walls. In several showcases liturgical ornaments are exhibited. The walls of the head and feet resemble arches of triumph, with the pediment split to accommodate a niche with the image of the Virgin, at the head, and of Santo Domingo at the foot, on the door. On the wall on the left, inside an archsolio is the founder's prayerful sculpture. In the front wall a niche houses the urn with its remains.

7.- CHAPTER OF THE BONAL

At the head of this small chapel, anteroom of the church, is the marble cenotaph dedicated to Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, III Duke of Alba. It was made in 1984 by Fernando Chueca Goitia. It houses under an arch the bust of the Grand Duke, a copy of the one made by Pompeo Leoni.

8.- THE CHURCH OF SAN ESTEBAN

The promoter of the current church of San Esteban was Cardinal Juan Álvarez de Toledo, son of the second Duke of Alba, who had been a friar in this convent. The church was designed by architect Juan de Álava. His works began in 1524 under the direction of this architect and were later continued by Friar Martín de Santiago, Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón and Juan de Ribero, consecrated in 1610.

It is a church of Latin cross plant, with unique nave of 87 m. of length and chapels opened between the buttresses. Despite the late dates in which his style was initiated, in general, it is late-Gothic. The nave features very flat cross vaults, a reflection of a late Gothic. The keys are decorated with rosettes of plateresque taste. On the cruise rises the cimborrio made by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, already of Renaissance style. Beautiful polychrome keys decorated with images of saints, highlighting the central key that represents the Coronation of the Virgin.

Attention is drawn to the large dimensions of the presbytery and choir at the foot and supported by a large carpanel arch.

The presbytery, elevated above the rest of the church, is presided over by the grandiose altarpiece made at the end of the 17th century by José de Churriguera, considered one of the most important altarpieces of the last Spanish baroque. It rises on an elevated basement in which side doors open that give access to the old crypt. The central body is articulated with six large Solomonic columns of giant order, decorated with branches and vine leaves, symbols of the Eucharist. In the side streets, niches open with the sculptures of Saint Dominic of Guzman, on the side of the Epistle, and of Saint Francis of Assisi, on the side of the Gospel. The center of the altarpiece is presided over by the great exhibitor of the Blessed Sacrament. The tabernacle-sagrarium resembles a temple, with dome and Solomonic columns. In the center of the attic a large painting, made by Claudio Coello, depicts the Stoning of St. Stephen. The altarpieces of the cruise are dedicated to Saint Dominic of Guzman, on the side of the Gospel, and to Saint Thomas Aquinas, on the side of the Epistle.

On the Gospel cruise, the Chapel of the Rosary opens as a triumphal arch. It has a baroque altarpiece made by José de Churriguera, with the image of the Virgin of Rosario given by Pope Pius V in the sixteenth century. On the arch a mural painting by Antonio Villamayor depicting the Coronation of the Virgin. On the southern cruise is the exit door to the cloister, dedicated to San José, with delicate decoration of grutescos.

9. THE HIGH CLAUSE

The high cloister is already fully Renaissance, with half-point arches resting on pilasters and plateresque capitals, medallions on the rinses and a simple wooden cover. In the northwest corner of the northern gallery, two gates give access to the choir and the old library in which the museum is located today.

10.-EL CORO

Access to the choir from the cloister is made through a beautiful and original Plateresque door presided over by the coat of arms of Friar Juan Álvarez de Toledo. Located at the foot of the temple, it stands on three stretches of lowered vaults. The first thing that attracts attention is the spectacular view of the nave of the church, with the altarpiece of José de Churriguera presiding over the main altar.

The walnut saddlery was traced by Alonso Balbás in the mid-17th century. Its ornamentation, already mannerist, is reduced to geometric designs. In the chair of the prior there is a niche with the image of Santo Domingo, and above it, a picture of the Virgin with the child copy of the original of Rubens that is in the museum.

A gigantic fresco, made in 1705 by Antonio Palomino, covers the testero of the choir. It represents, on two levels, the Militant Church and the Triumphant Church.