Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-04
CRANOOLOSALAMANCA
Has Been Slowly Dying for
800 Years.
ITS ANCIENT GLORY
GREAT DAMAGE TO IT'S BUILD
INGS BY MANY WARS.
Many Ecclesiastical Institutions and \
Priceless Store of Records-Its
Shops and Merchants.
ITS ANCIENT GLORY

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
the Chicago Record Herald.
SALAMANCA, October 24.-It is sad to
see grand old city die, and Salamanca
has been slowly dying for 800 years. 1t
was once called the Iberian Rome. Four
hundred years ago it was center of learn
ing and ecclesiastical influence, second only
to the Eternal City-"La Alma Mater de
Virtudes, Ciencies Artes,' the mother
of virtues, sciences and arts-but its pop
ulation of between 25o,000 and 100000 fas
been reduced to 21,O00, and the venerable
university, which then had between 12,UU
and $4,000 students, has now only fe"
hundreds. Salamanca once had twenty-five
colleges. forty-five churches, two cathe-
drals, twenty-five monasterieS and seFerll
hundred of the ablest and most bigoted
and intoIerant professors in the world.
1t was here that the commission of learn
ed pundts in 1856 denounced and reJcctea
the theory of Columbus that the earth was
round and that by sailing westward ne
mig hit ultimately return to his starting
place. Here Gallileo's theories, whlch are
new accepted unconsciously by every school
boy, were pronounced absurd and hereticai
and here sat one of the most cruel and re-
still. as it always was, the most conserv;'-
tive benighted city in Spain, but there Is
none of greater interest to the artist, the
architect and the historian, because of It's
antiuuated appearance and splendid OH
buildines. all constructed of the same ma
terial, a peculiar sandstone found IN the
vicinity to which time and the weather
have given a hue of golden brown. Every
thing is very very old; any buildlng-aho
thew are very rare-that has been erected
within 400 years is considered modern
Was Hannibaps Headquarters.
Salamanca was large city at the time Oh
the Romans. Hannibal made it his heao-
quarters for several months during Ills
Spanish campaign two centuries peio
Christ and it's favorable situation with rel
erence to military strategy has maze II 'he
object of warfare ever since II was lounoeu'
The French plundered it in 1913 and pulleo
down one-third of the buildings ana the
battle of Salamanca, fought between the
Duke of Wellington and Field Marsnal
Marmont July 90, 1912, was one Of the
greatest struggles that ever occurred De-
tween men. There were 100000 French
men and GO 900 British and Spanish on the
other side. The French were routed and
more daylight the whole army would have
been in our hands"
The damage done by the French to the
university buildings has been repeated dur
ing the several revolutions that have oc-
Cured since, and in the early '70s, when
the cortes denounced the monasteries,
nearly all of those in Salamanca were loot
ed and partially destroyed. Those which
hi Of fha
ecclesiastical architecture of the fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, unsur-
passed in all Europe; but their majestic
halls and picturesque cloisters are either
in ruins and abandoned or used as tene-
ments by the poor families Of the city The
College of San Barthelome. one of the
finest which was built in 1441, is now used
as a residence for the governor of the
province. The College de Mobiles Ireland
eses, which was founded by Philip II in
1929 for Irish Catholic students, to spite his
sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth. is in pitt
able condition, with only nine young priests
from Dublin.
Imagine Harvard, Yale or Chicago Uni
versity with three-fourths Of the buildings
in ruins, and you can get little idea of
what Salamanca is today. The Jesuit Col
built in 1917. 1t covers an area of So 700
square feet. Collegio Viejo, which was built
in 141O, is pretty well preserved, and Ell
Collegio de la Calatrava, built in 1852 is
also in good condition. compared with the
rest of the buildings.
The greatest signs of life in town appear
on Sunday, when there is a bull fight in
the largest ring of Spain, which holds 20 1000
SDect3tOrS. Of
Coliseum might have been in the days Of
the Roman empire.
Streets Are PICTURESQUE.
The streets are very picturesque, especial
ly one called the Rua, which is lined with
secondhand book shops and must he a
treasure house for collectors. The greater
part of the stock is supposed to have been
stolen from the plundered colleges and
monasteries, but nobody seems to care for
that, and the consciences of the shopke keepers
evidently do not trouble them. Nor are
they worried by the demands of customers
Nobody ever comes to buy. The people of
Salamanca are so used to old books that
they would take no interest in them even
If they had the money to crafty their taste
and l don't suppose the shopkeepers have
any rent to pay. In their threadbare gar
iieHtS anu PROUD lnQlnerence and conscious.
ness of superiority to the world outside
they sit among their musty tones day af-
ter day discussing politics and the weather
with each other. / suppose If customer
should appear with purse full of ready
cash they would scarcely know how to
treat him. 1t has been such long time
since they enjoyed such an experience An
other of the streets is given up to silver
smiths, who do some very clever work.
The Plaza Mayor is said to be the finest
in Spain, and Is surrounded by splendid
four-story buildings with arcades, whose
sculptured facades are covered with the
statues and busts of the kings, the heroes
and the scholars OF. Spain. There the popu-
lation meet every evening. Sometimes the
band from the barracks plays for their en-
tertainment. The old men smoke countless
cigarettes and walk about chattering; the.
few remaining students strut about arm in
arm and stare at the girls, while the old
ladies gossip at the tables OF the cafes
under the colonnades. Our guide tells us