SAN BLAS AUDITORIUM

The parish of San Blas was founded in the second half of the 13th century in the territory of the Galicians, in the western sector of the city, once past the stream called «de los Milagros», very close to the False Gate of the wall. The place where it stands was known since ancient times as «Las Peñuelas de San Blas». The rugged nature of the terrain and its remoteness made it not very attractive for the settlement of residents, which is why the area ended up being occupied by convents and university colleges. In the immediate vicinity of San Blas were the Colegio Mayor del Arzobispo, the old Colegio de los Jesuitas, and the convent of San Francisco el Real. The church was restored in the mid-16th century, but by the 18th century, its deterioration was such that it threatened ruin, which led to an almost complete reconstruction of the building.

The area where the temple is located was greatly affected by the War of Independence. The French dismantled roofs, doors, and windows, leaving only the perimeter walls of the church standing. After the explosion of a gunpowder magazine in early July 1812, it was used as a cemetery for hundreds of people. The parish, whose neighborhood had been almost annihilated, did not recover and was suppressed in the parochial reform of 1886. Since then, the deterioration of the building has increased.

After the ravages of the war and the disentailment laws of the mid-19th century, the area was practically deserted and the monuments that existed there were turned into ruins. The severe agrarian crisis of the late 19th century caused a significant migration of rural day laborers to the city. Initially, they settled in Cerro de San Vicente, where they built their homes reusing materials from the existing ruins. The misery and abandonment of the neighborhood persisted throughout much of the 20th century. Recovery began with the construction of Moneo's housing blocks in the 1980s and, above all, with the construction of the Congress Palace in 1992. From that moment on, the neighborhood was completely rebuilt.

The parish reached the end of the 20th century converted into a coal depot. Finally, between 1981-82, the Salamanca City Council undertook its restoration under the direction of architect Don Fernando Bueno, to convert it into an auditorium.

The current appearance of the old parish of San Blas is the result of the restoration carried out between 1981 and 1982 to convert it into an auditorium. The restoration, in general terms, was quite respectful of what had been preserved from the 18th-century work.

San Blas is a single-nave church, without a transept, with a very deep chancel and a semicircular apse. The body is divided into three equal sections separated by buttresses decorated with pilasters, on which semi-circular transverse arches rest. The space is illuminated by six windows opened high up in the walls. Originally, it would also have received light from the chamber window of the apse, which is now bricked up. The apse is covered with a quarter-sphere vault and the naves with a groin vault.

The walls, built with ashlar masonry and Villamayor stone masonry, are plastered both externally and internally, leaving only the Villamayor stone visible on buttresses, arches, and door and window frames. The interior today appears completely clear, free of altars and altarpieces, with smooth walls devoid of any ornamentation.

At the foot of the church, an architrave doorway opens, flanked by pilasters that culminate in pyramidal pinnacles. Above the cornice, a window with a curved pediment opens. On each side of the window there is a coat of arms: one with a miter and crozier and the other with the fig leaves of the Figueroa family, who were patrons of the church. A small bell-gable protrudes above the facade.