Salamanca - Convento de San Esteban

A little way upstream from Puente Romano is the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge), from the southwestern end of which radiate the roads to Ávila, Plasencia and Ciudad Rodrigo. From the near end of the bridge the Avenida de los Reyes leads to the Dominican monastery of San Esteban (on right, on higher ground), with a church built between 1524 and 1610, its facade covered with a riot of Plateresque decoration.

It has a gilded high altar of 1693 by José de Churriguera, one of the sculptor's greatest works, and three side altars by pupils of his. To the left of the high altar is the tomb of the Duke of Alba, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. On the west wall, above the raised choir, can be seen a large fresco by Antonio Palomino, "The Triumph of the Church" (1705).