Palacio de la Salina (Salina Palace), Salamanca

Beware the Archbishop's revenge! Legend has it that in the 16th century, Archbishop Alonso de Fonseca visited Salamanca to attend a diocesan council. He was traveling with his mistress, Lady Juana Pimentel. When he asked for hospitality for himself and Juana, the disapproving nobles refused. The Archbishop had to be avenged.

Alonso caused the Palacio to be built and decorated with huge corbels of grotesque images of writhing, tortured figures showing great pain. It's true Alonso and Juana were an item, but the revenge story is fake.

Salina Palace (Palacio de la Salina) was ordered by Don Rodrigo de Messía, Lord of La Guardia, who was married to Doña Mayor de Fonseca and Toledo. Dona Mayor bequeathed the mansion to her second son, Juan Alonso de Fonseca. This is why the Fonseca coat of arms is on the facade of the building, and the palace is also called the Fonseca Palace (Palacio de Fonseca).

Salina Palace, built in 1538, is in the Plateresque style and shows Italian elements. It has a light, open facade, a patio with a gallery of arches, capitals, and the aforementioned monstrous corbels supporting the courtyard balconies. The architect was Rodrigo Gil de Hontanon.

The building was originally intended as a salt warehouse, hence the name "Salina." It was the headquarters of the Salt state monopoly until 1870. Juan Alonso was certainly the salt concessionaire of the city. Since 1884 Salina Palace has housed the Provincial Council.