Iglesia de San Benito (Church of St. Benedict), Salamanca

The current Church of Saint Benedict replaces an early Romanesque temple dating back to around 1104, which likely served as a place of worship during the city’s early repopulation and even hosted the baptism of Archbishop Alonso II de Fonseca. In 1506, he commissioned the construction of the present Gothic church, cementing the site’s connection to Salamanca’s noble and spiritual elite.

Throughout the medieval period, the church gave its name to one of Salamanca’s powerful political factions-the Benitinos. This group vied for influence against another faction, the Tomesinos, named after nearby Saint Thomas. The eventual reconciliation brought unity to the city through the efforts of Saint John of Sahagún.

The church stands out with massive buttresses adorned with coats of arms from the Fonseca, Acevedo, Ulloa, and Maldonado families-noble patrons who reinforced its structure and legacy. Its southern entrance truly shines: a brilliantly detailed Hispano-Flamenco Gothic portal protected by a wooden awning, under which a column supports a conopial arch framing the Annunciation scene carved above the doorway.

Stepping inside, you’ll find a single nave vaulted with stellar ribbing, where the ribs rest not on pillars but on wall corbels-an elegant take on structural design. In the apse, beautifully crafted tombs-both Gothic and Renaissance-honor the Maldonado family beside the main altar. The altarpiece today is a neoclassical stone work from 1783 by Eustaquio Román, with sculpted figures of saints (including Benedict and Anthony Abbot), and Renaissance reliefs and paintings depicting the Annunciation and the Coronation of the Virgin.

The Church of Saint Benedict remains an active parish within Salamanca’s historic core, now part of the Parish of the Immaculate Conception. It is particularly notable for being one of the two churches in the diocese that still celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass. Since the closure of its convent setting, the church has also become the canonical home of the Brotherhood of Christ of the Agony.