Santa Catalina University

XVI century The old University of Santa Catalina was financed in the middle of the XVI century by the bishop Alvarez de Acosta (1539-63). It is a square building of 53 meters on each side, with unmistakable features of the purist Renaissance. The façade consists of a semicircular arch, with a recessed soffit, between attached columns. On the spandrels there are reliefs of wise old men, an allegorical iconography very appropriate for a university building. Above the arch, a niche shelters the sculpture of Santa Catalina, patron saint of philosophers and belonging to a family of which Bishop Acosta was considered a descendant. On the sides, two coats of arms of the donating prelate were placed, in which the wheel of Saint Catherine and some ribs appear, to signify that his works were made ?at the cost of his ribs? The central patio is framed by a two-story arcade, the lower one formed by semicircular arches and the upper one by carpanels. The monumental staircase leading to the main floor, like the courtyard, shows the harmony of this building with the dominant aesthetic and typological trends of the time. The balustrade and the parapet once again feature the Acosta coats of arms. The founding bull of the Colegio Universidad dates from 1550. It housed faculties of Theology, Philosophy, Law and Medicine. The studies were suppressed in 1770 to be recovered in 1778. On the occasion of the War of Independence it was closed again, resuming its activity in 1814 to be definitively closed as a University in 1841 when the institution was transferred to Soria, where it did not survive. Later it was a Secondary School and hosted the University Summer Courses. Currently the building has been renovated to convert it into a thermal hotel.