Convento de San Francisco

The Convent of San Francisco de Ciudad Rodrigo is a former Franciscan convent, today preserved in a state of consolidated ruin and used as an exhibition hall. It is located on Avenida de Portugal, within the municipality of Ciudad Rodrigo, in Salamanca, Castilla y León, next to the historic center of the city. The institution was founded in 1230, in the surroundings of the hermitage of San Gil, linked by tradition to the stay of San Francisco; in the 16th century it became the head of the Franciscan province of San Miguel. The complex suffered serious damage during the War of Independence and the subsequent abandonment accelerated its deterioration. Of the original construction, several funeral chapels from the 16th century, built in the late Gothic style, are preserved. The sources describe the building as a large convent of the Franciscan order, today reduced to consolidated ruins, with cultural use for temporary exhibitions. Due to its typology, it is a historical convent/monastery of patrimonial interest, with special value for the architectural remains preserved and for its relationship with the Franciscan implantation in Ciudad Rodrigo.