What to do · Zamora
The Romanesque Mile: Zamora's Romanesque Churches
Information
- Price
- €1 per church (San Andrés, €2) · €6 pass · free on Wednesday from 10:00 to 12:00
- Duration
- 2 h
- Season
- All year; hours depend on the church
- Who it's for
- Adults and teenagers
Zamora boasts of being the city with the most Romanesque churches in Europe: Turismo de Castilla y León speaks of some twenty Romanesque landmarks, almost all in the old town, between Calle de la Rúa and the Duero. You do not need to see them all: with the pass and two hours you cover the main ones and understand why the city calls itself the Romanesque city.
Prices and pass
Each church costs €1 (San Andrés, €2) and the "La Milla Románica" pass, at €6, opens them all and includes the diocesan museum; it is bought at any of them. On Wednesday from 10:00 to 12:00 all are free. If you plan to enter five or more, the pass pays off.
Opening hours
From 12 October to 29 March, Santa María la Nueva and San Cipriano are open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00 and on Sunday morning; Santiago del Burgo, San Juan, San Andrés, San Vicente and San Ildefonso, Tuesday to Saturday with the same hours and on Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00. La Magdalena is temporarily closed. On Mondays, therefore, you will only find Santa María la Nueva and San Cipriano open.
A possible route
Start in the Plaza Mayor, where San Juan de Puerta Nueva is, and go down Calle de Santa Clara to Santiago del Burgo, from the 12th and 13th centuries. Go back to the Plaza Mayor and take Calle de la Rúa westwards: on the way you have San Vicente, San Ildefonso and, near the cathedral, La Magdalena, which even though closed deserves to be seen from outside. Santa María la Nueva and San Cipriano are off to one side, on the north and south edge of the old town; San Cipriano looks out over the river. If you go towards the Duero, San Claudio de Olivares, in the Olivares district, is another of the churches Turismo de Castilla y León highlights.
San Andrés costs a little more because it is no longer Romanesque: it was built over an earlier church, but was rebuilt entirely between 1550 and 1570, with Antonio de Sotelo.
With a guide or on your own
If you prefer to be told about it, the Romanesque Zamora guided tour leaves every day at 11:00 from the Plaza de Viriato and goes into one of the churches. At the end of the Rúa await the cathedral, whose ticket includes the diocesan museum, and the castle, free.
With teenagers
