BARRIO DEL OESTE

The Carmelitas-Oeste neighborhood takes its name both from its location, to the west of the city, and from one of the historical buildings that marked its origin, the Discalced Carmelite convent. Its history dates back to the 16th century, when in 1571 Saint Teresa of Jesus founded the Discalced Carmelite convent. Although the convent no longer exists, its church is still preserved, now converted into the parish of Monte Carmelo. This construction was the starting point for the urban development of an area that, at that time, was outside the walled enclosure of Salamanca, between the Villamayor and Zamora gates.

For centuries, the surroundings maintained an almost rural character, until its urbanization began in the first half of the 20th century. Through private initiative, single-family homes were built, many of them with gardens. However, in the 1960s, the neighborhood underwent a radical transformation due to demographic growth and rural emigration. Single-family homes were replaced by apartment blocks built quickly and with poor quality, which led to numerous urban problems: unpaved streets, low water pressure, and a lack of basic services.

Given this situation, in 1977 the ZOES Neighborhood Association was born, becoming the voice of the neighborhood's demands. Among its initiatives, the Western Flea Market stood out, a street market that consolidated itself as a popular event in Salamanca, attracting crowds every Sunday. Over time, the market moved to Ribera del Puente and later to Aldehuela.

In 2013, the neighborhood experienced a new impulse thanks to the project Urban Gallery, a joint initiative between ZOES and the LemARTE artistic collective. The objective was clear: revitalize the neighborhood, promote citizen participation, and bring art closer to everyday life. Thus, garages and facades became canvases for young artists.

Since that date, a competition has been held annually, aimed at emerging professionals, Fine Arts students, and painting enthusiasts. Participants submit their sketches, and after a selection, the chosen ones create their works in different parts of the neighborhood. In the first edition, 25 artists painted garage doors for three days. Since then, more than 200 artistic interventions have been carried out, including murals, graffiti, textile installations (urban knitting), and vertical gardens.

With the 2025 edition, the Urban Gallery reached its fifteenth call. Emerging artists have participated in it alongside consolidated figures of urban art such as Diego AS —awarded in 2021 for the best mural in the world with his work “Julius Caesar” in Lugo—, Ricardo Cavolo, Catalina Medarde, Alice Pasquini, and Felipe Piñuela.

Today, the Carmelitas-Oeste neighborhood is a national benchmark for participatory urban art, with thematic routes, guided tours, and a prominent presence in cultural media. Its impact has transcended borders. The international platform Street Art Cities, dedicated to promoting and documenting quality urban art worldwide, has included Salamanca among its more than one thousand featured cities. 

How to organize your tour

Urban Gallery:

• On your own: you can create your own itinerary based on your interests. The ZOES Association website offers detailed information on each work, including authors, techniques, and exact location. Download a map of the urban art routes and explore at your own pace. It's a fun plan for families (https://galeriaurbanasalamanca.es/).

• Guided tour: you can join a guided tour to discover the murals and graffiti by local, national, and international artists.

Explore the neighborhood: Beyond the murals, look for curious details like dressed trees and decorated benches.

Gastronomy: the neighborhood is full of bars and restaurants, making it an ideal place to stay and try its gastronomic offer.

Shopping: the Barrio del Oeste is a vibrant space that still maintains all kinds of family and traditional businesses.

The Urban Gallery unfolds throughout the Barrio del Oeste, an enclave of Salamanca located barely ten minutes' walk from the Plaza Mayor. Its nerve center is the Plaza del Oeste, from where artistic interventions extend through numerous surrounding streets. Works can be found on streets such as Wences Moreno, Fray Luis de Granada, Gutenberg, Antonio Espinosa, Granero, Joaquín Costa, Juan de Juni, Palacio Valdés, Papín or Valle Inclán, among many others, turning the neighborhood into a true open-air museum.

Currently, there are more than 200 urban art works that can be visited in the neighborhood, of all types of styles and dimensions. Many interventions include QR codes that allow you to learn about the artist and the meaning of the work. On the website and in the galeriaurbanasalamanca.es application, all works created to date can be viewed, with information on authors, techniques used, exact location of the pieces with addresses, maps, and photographs.

Most of the works in this urban gallery are made on garage doors, but some of the most impressive are those that guest artists have executed on entire facades, party walls, and gables of buildings. Here we gather a small selection of some of the most relevant works:

Wences Moreno Street • “Nest House”, by Pablo S. Herrero: one of the most iconic works in the neighborhood. It occupies the entire facade of number 13 with an organic design that simulates branches and nests, integrating with the architecture. It hides among its branches two small fantastic characters that must be found, in a nod to the iconic search for the frog on the facade of the University of Salamanca

Fray Luis de Granada Street • “Portrait of Frida Kahlo”, Colectivo Lemarte: a tribute to the Mexican artist, with floral and symbolic elements that evoke her style. • “The Thinker”, David de la Mano: black human silhouettes that reflect on identity and the urban environment.

Joaquín Costa Street • “Mercedes”, Ricardo Cavolo: one of the most impressive works is by Ricardo Cavolo, an internationally renowned illustrator, who tells the story of his mother Mercedes, from Salamanca. Each floor depicts a stage of his mother's life, while paying a fabulous tribute to the city using emblems such as the Roman Bridge or the Casa de las Conchas.

Juan de Juni Street: • "The Animated Fountain": the Galician artist Yoseba MP has portrayed two neighborhood residents, Lorenzo and Carmen, next to the neighborhood square's fountain. Lorenzo was the first president of the ZOES neighborhood association.

Papín Street with Juan de Juni Street: • The Citizen Goddess, by Manuel Gutiérrez Calle. • "The Toymaker or Geppetto" is a large mural painting created on a party wall by Mila Correch.

Gutenberg Street • “Woman with Turban” – Sara Sanz (2017): a vibrant portrait that stands out for its expressiveness and use of color. • “Child with Balloon” – Kram (2015): a poetic work that plays with innocence and urban space.