Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Los Santos

What to see and do in Los Santos (Guijuelo, Salamanca): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

Towns near Los Santos

Spain › Castile and León › Salamanca › Guijuelo › Los Santos

What to see and do in Los Santos

Los Santos
Village
Los Santos is a municipality of about 570 inhabitants in the comarca of Guijuelo, in Salamanca, founded in the 13th century during the resettlements of Alfonso IX of León. It has lived from stonemasonry since ancient times and still brings together four cooperatives of the trade; its fortified church displays symbols attributed to the passage of the Order of the Temple, precisely linked to stonework. It obtained the status of town under Philip IV, when its jurisdiction was sold to the Duke of Béjar, before its own inhabitants bought it back to regain their autonomy. In March 1946, already in the postwar period, the town was the scene of an action by the maquis in which the mayor and other local authorities were killed.
The church-fortress of Los Santos
Monument
Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC) on 1 July 1993, the parish church of Los Santos has the massive appearance of a fortress church and preserves symbols that local tradition links to the presence of the Order of the Temple in the town.
The stonemasons of Los Santos
Curiosity
Stonemasonry has for centuries been the municipality's most characteristic activity and is still today one of its economic engines: four cooperatives work the local granite, a trade passed on from generation to generation.
The jurisdiction bought by the townspeople
Historical milestone
In the times of Felipe IV the jurisdiction of the town was sold to Alfonso Diego López de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, Duke of Béjar; years later it was the inhabitants themselves who bought it, thus recovering the autonomy of the council.
The maquis action in Los Santos
Historical milestone
In March 1946 a band of maquis entered the settlement and killed the mayor, the deputy mayor and the local head of the Falange. Some versions explain it as revenge for the murders of 1936 and others as a failed raid.
The pilgrimage of the Virgen del Gozo
Activity
On the Monday following the first Monday after Easter Sunday, the Virgen del Gozo returns in procession to her church after spending a week in the village church. Notable is the auction of the offerings the faithful have made to the image.
Cured meats in the shelter of Guijuelo
Food and drink
The proximity to Guijuelo has made cured-meat production a leading activity in the municipality, with sausage workshops installed in its industrial estate that make use of the dry, cold mountain air for curing hams and loins.