Tuesday 12 May 2015

Travel Tuesday: The Medieval University of Salamanca, Spain

The Escuelas Mayores building, Salamanca.

Last weekend my wife and I headed off to Salamanca, Spain. It's a wonderful old historic city best known for its university founded in the 13th century. Here is the facade of the university's most famous building.

Like Oxford, most of the university buildings are built around a courtyard. Jump the cut to step inside.



The Stairs of Knowledge, early 16th century, is covered in interesting engravings.
Not sure what's going on here, but I want to be part of it!
They look like they're up to no good.
At the top of the stairs stands this not-quite anatomically accurate 16th century surgical mannequin, used to teach students about the body. It's said to be the oldest of its kind in existence.

2 comments:

D.G. Hudson said...

What at fantastic place, Sean! I like the sound of the Stairs of Knowledge. That antiquated mannequin seems to accentuate the bones in the major extremities, too. A great learning tool about the anatomy. Likely the missing part made too many women blush. . .

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Those stairs are impressive. So is the dummy, especially considering when it was made. Yeah, it is missing a few things...

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