SLOPES OF CERRO DE SAN VICENTE

San Vicente Hill (Teso de San Vicente) is the westernmost of the three hills that shaped the historic city of Salamanca. Its prominent position above the Tormes river gave it a decisive strategic value, explaining its early settlement. The first stable settlement of the city was established here during the First Iron Age. It was occupied from the 8th to the 4th century BC, when demographic growth led the population to move to the nearby Teso de las Catedrales, which would become the Salmántica hillfort.

After the founding of this second settlement, the hill remained uninhabited for centuries, until the Benedictine Monastery of San Vicente was founded there in the Middle Ages. Due to its strategic nature, the monastery and the hill were occupied by Napoleonic troops and transformed into a military fort during the Peninsular War, which led to its destruction during the Battle of Salamanca.

After the end of the Peninsular War, the Benedictine monks tried to rebuild what remained of the conventual building, until in 1835 they completely abandoned their fruitless attempts, also influenced by the disentailment policies of the governments of that period. The ruins of the distinguished building were thus left abandoned and exposed to the looting of its structure, so by the last third of the 19th century, no remains of artistic interest were preserved. From this date, the area began to be colonized by the population who, over the monastery's rubble and largely reusing it, created a popular neighborhood of small constructions that has lasted until a few years ago and erased any trace of historical urban planning.

In 1949, when the "Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe" (a university residence hall) began to be built on the upper platform of the hill, the remains of the protohistoric settlement were discovered. Since the 1990s, archaeological excavations have been carried out, allowing the site to be categorized within the Soto Medinilla Culture. The importance of the remains found here led to the drafting of the San Vicente Hill Master Plan in 1997, which differentiated three main areas of action: the archaeological remains of the First Iron Age, the remains of the Benedictine Monastery of San Vicente, and the slopes facing the Vaguada de la Palma.

The slopes of San Vicente Hill were part of the Monastery of San Vicente and were cultivated by the monks since ancient times. After the 19th-century disentailment and the abandonment of the space by the monastic community, the slopes were occupied by humble families, who maintained the horticultural tradition of the area well into the 1980s.

The conditioning works have documented archaeological remains covering all historical periods represented at the site, from the Iron Age to the present day. The intervention carried out in the park has made it possible to recover the historical profile of the hill, giving prominence back to the terraces and the archaeological and ethnographic landmarks present along the route.

In 2022, the Botanical Park of the Slopes of San Vicente Hill opened its doors to the public. During the conditioning works, various ethnographic elements related to traditional agricultural use were found, which today form part of the route along its pedestrian paths.

The park covers 8,741 square meters, where archaeological remains and ethnographic evidence linked to agricultural cultivation coexist. Its perimeter is delimited by an old stone wall. The area featured an irrigation system composed of channels, a water wheel, and a pond, which are preserved and have been integrated into the park's route. More than 14,000 specimens of shrub species and 70 new fruit trees have been planted, adding to the existing ones, mainly almond and quince trees.

The main access is from Vaguada de la Palma, where informative panels introduce visitors to the history of the place and guide them along the route. The slopes of the paths have been smoothed to make them accessible, and benches have been placed at strategic points along the route. Among the most prominent landmarks are:

THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF LOS MILAGROS In the second half of the 19th century, a popular neighborhood known as Los Milagros emerged on the ruins of the ancient monumental buildings that existed in this area of the historic center. Humble families, mainly from rural areas, built their own homes here, taking advantage of the ruins caused by the Napoleonic War and the disentailment process of the 19th century. Thus, a neighborhood of low, humble houses was born, with a distinct rural appearance that contrasted with the monumental surroundings. It was an unsanitary neighborhood, without any services, through which the Los Milagros stream flowed, eventually giving its name to the neighborhood.

WATER WHEEL and POND Among the traditional constructions preserved in the lower part of the hillside, a water wheel (noria) and a pond (alberca) can be seen. Both structures already appear in Napoleonic military plans, made at the beginning of the 19th century, so they are interpreted as original elements of the monastery's irrigation system that continued to be used by the neighborhood's inhabitants until a few decades ago. Recently, the wheel and machinery donated by the Barbero family, manufactured by the Salamanca-based company Metalúrgica del Tormes S.A., have been installed inside the water wheel. The original machinery, which disappeared years ago, was made of wood; at the end of the 19th century, its components were replaced by cast steel parts.

IRRIGATION SYSTEM AND PAVEMENTS Since monastic times, the terraces on this hillside had an irrigation system of channels reinforced with stone and gravel walls that distributed water from above by gravity. In archaeological excavations carried out next to the southern wall of the enclosure, what appears to be a small irrigation channel excavated in the natural terrain was detected.

TERRACE WALLS The hillside was modified throughout history for agricultural use. Sections of stone walls from the old terraces are preserved, which contained the slopes and allowed for the creation of stepped platforms for cultivation. Some could date back to monastic times.

NEW FENCE WALL and VIEWPOINT OF SAN VICENTE MONASTERY In 1577, the monastery acquired the land on the hilltop, known as El Castro, from the council. It commissioned architect Ribero de Rada to build a recreational house and a viewpoint over the Tormes River. The viewpoint used part of the New Fence's route, which ran from Puerta Nueva, bordering the hill to Vaguada de la Palma, as a parapet. Ribero Rada used Herrerian spheres as ornamentation. Today, one of these spheres remains on the remnants of the viewpoint.

MONASTIC COBBLESTONE PAVEMENT At the top of the hillside, a cobblestone pavement of quartzite pebbles has been located, remnants of a path that connected the monastery's cellars with the terraced gardens on this hillside. The old paths had a much steeper slope than the current walkways.