Casa de Santa Teresa (House of St. Therese), Salamanca

The House of Saint Therese is a 15th-century building that once sheltered the influential mystic and reformer, Saint Teresa of Ávila, during her stays in the city between 1570 and 1574. It was here, amid humble surroundings, that she composed the celebrated poem "I live without living within myself", as she prepared to establish her seventh foundation of Discalced Carmelite convents.

The house itself is unassuming in design yet rich in historical aura. Its façade is crafted from Villamayor stone, representative of Salamanca’s architectural identity, and features a simple semicircular arch entrance, with a window above flanked by the original coats of arms of the Ovalle family, the former owners. Inside, visitors can glimpse a courtyard and the very room believed to have belonged to Santa Teresa.

During her stay, Santa Teresa also composed "The Book of the Foundations" upon the advice of her spiritual advisor, the Jesuit Ripalda, establishing the intellectual and mystical framework for her religious reforms. It is here that the intersection of spirituality, literature, and reform took tangible form-a place where the poetic soul and religious devotion of one of Spain’s most transformative figures were deeply interwoven.
Today, the house is owned by the Servants of Saint Joseph, who maintain the site’s spiritual and historic character.

Editors note: House of Saint Therese is temporarily closed.