Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Monleón

What to see and do in Monleón (Guijuelo, Salamanca): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Spain › Castile and León › Salamanca › Guijuelo › Monleón

What to see and do in Monleón

Monleón
Village
Monleón is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, in the comarca of Guijuelo, situated at 878 metres at the confluence of the río Alagón, a tributary of the Tagus, with its tributary the Riofrío. Its name, initially recorded as Montleon, would read as "mount of León", for having belonged to a mount of the Kingdom of León, as is the case with neighbouring Salvaleón. The castle, one of the main witnesses to its history, was built in the 15th century on the remains of a 12th-century fortress that formed part of the walled precinct of the town, conquered by Alfonso VI before 1077. In 1199 King Alfonso IX of León named it a town and the seat of its own concejo, within a network of border fortresses in the area. With 88 inhabitants, it preserves a well-kept medieval old quarter.
The castle of Monleón
Monument
Built in the fifteenth century over the remains of a twelfth-century fortress, it preserves a tower of five storeys and 37 metres in height restored by its owners. It is privately owned and presides over the well-kept medieval quarter of the town.
The Town Gate
Monument
The main entrance of the old walled enclosure, it is a gate-tower built with granite ashlars in which four slightly pointed round arches and the tunnel that runs beneath the tower stand out.
The Vettonian verraco of Monleón
Monument
At the entrance to the town a granite sculpture representing a pig is preserved, the work of the Vettone people in pre-Roman times. These verracos marked out pastures and territories in the lands between the Tormes and the Alagón.
The church of Santa Isabel
Monument
The parish church of Monleón is a late Gothic church built with granite ashlar in the sixteenth century. Its titular saint, Santa Isabel of Portugal, gives its name to the main festivals, today moved to the last weekend of August.
Monleón, town of Alfonso IX
Historical milestone
Alfonso IX of León made Monleón a town in 1199 and turned it into the head of its own council on which several neighbouring settlements depended. In 1248 Fernando III withdrew that status and incorporated it into the council of Salamanca.
The mayor who minted coins
Curiosity
The magistrate Rodrigo Maldonado held the castle tyrannically and went so far as to strike coin without royal licence. Fernando the Catholic travelled from Medina del Campo to seize him and bring him before the fortress, which his wife was defending and which finally surrendered.
The blessing of the necklaces
Activity
On 3 February, the day of San Blas, the throat-ribbons are blessed at mass and the procession with the saint then goes out; on 23 April, for San Jorge, the residents go up with the image to the threshing floors to bless the fields.