Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Villaescusa

What to see and do in Villaescusa (La Guareña, Zamora): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Activities

Towns near Villaescusa

Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › La Guareña › Villaescusa

What to see and do in Villaescusa

Villaescusa
Village
Villaescusa is a village of 237 inhabitants in the comarca of La Guareña, province of Zamora. Its name comes from the Latin villa, a country house that became a settlement, and from escusa, which according to some authors would allude to a town exempted from paying taxes, and according to others to a hidden town. In 1116 Queen Urraca I of León granted Villaescusa to the Order of St John, the oldest document mentioning the locality; it was represented by Toro in the Cortes and belonged to that province until it passed to Zamora in 1833. The parish church of Santiago, much altered, preserves medieval stone inscriptions on one of its doorways; the village also holds the hermitage of the Virgen del Olmo and a small Anglican church on Calle Derecha.
The hermitage of the Virgen del Olmo
Monument
Also called Nuestra Señora de Bella Escusa, it holds a seated Romanesque Virgin converted into a dressed image; its pilgrimage festival, two weeks before the May festival, is the largest event in the municipality.
The Anglican church of the Holy Spirit
Monument
At number 20 of the calle Derecha opens a small church of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican Communion, a rarity in the mostly Catholic rural world of Zamora.
The church of Santiago Apóstol de Villaescusa
Monument
Rebuilt in the sixteenth century, it preserves medieval inscriptions in stone and a Baroque altarpiece presided over by Santiago on horseback; the village's town hall stands out for its tower above the built fabric.
The festivities of the Virgen del Olmo
Activity
In May the Virgen del Olmo is celebrated and on the last weekend of July San Gervasio; on 1 January the conscripts come out and on 5 February las Águedas, in a municipality that today has 237 inhabitants.