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The University of Salamanca is considered to be the oldest in Spain and is the fourth oldest in the world. During the 16th Century, it was one of the most important cultural centers in Europe. Its façade, begun in 1415 and made of Villamayor´s stone, is a masterpiece of the Plateresque style and is divided in three main bodies, where vices and virtues are represented. Also famous is the frog interpreted as a symbol for sin, and that has been converted into an object for students and tourists superstitions. The interior is made of a two-floored cloister, connected to each other by beautiful Gothic stairs adorned with alegorical reliefs. On the ground floor, ancient classrooms named after important intellectuals that marked the University's history are distributed around the cloister. In the library, 400 books from the 15th Century are kept, in addition to an infinity of volumes and manuscripts and a collection of globes acquired in Paris.
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Western Europe
