Lying between Salamanca and the Portuguese municipality of Bragança is the medieval town of Zamora. Of Roman origin, this town has had a checkered history, much the same as that of many other Iberian towns. First formally established as a Roman town on the banks of the Duero River, this town later fell to the Visigoths, then to the Moors. It was finally reclaimed for Christendom during the course of the Reconquista by successive Christian monarchs. Zamora is famous for its profusion of Romanesque churches dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, numbering 24 in all. So profound is the presence of the Romanesque in Zamora, that this small town has become known as the Museum of the Romanesque.