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To the right, as one looks at the façade, three skulls will be seen on the broadest pilaster, and within the lefthand skull is the famous frog, said to represent sin. In the center of the second register, above the Order of the Golden Fleece and flanked by the two-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire and the crowned eagle of St. John, symbol of the Kingdom of Spain, is the royal escutcheon of the Emperor Charles V. Lastly, on the third and uppermost register, is the figure of a Pope, possibly Benedict XIII or Martin V, both protectors of the University in their time, addressing clerics and prelates. To the right and left of this group are the heads of Venus and Hercules. Note that as they get higher, the figurative and arabesque reliefs grow in size. The University of Salamanca is one of the oldest in the world, founded by King Alfonso IX only a short period of time after the Universities of Bologna and Paris.
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Western Europe
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