Car hire in Palencia

The river Carrión runs through the extensive plain of Tierra de Campos until it reaches Palencia. The capital, which has a interesting collection of monumental sites, is the starting point for a tour of the most significant route of the Romanesque style in Spain.

What was once Roman Pallantia has witnessed major historic milestones. A crossroads and an imporant centre of textile manufacturing in other ages, Palencia lived its period of greatest splendour in the Middle Ages. During the reign of Alfonso VIII, the capital became a royal residence and in 1208 the first Spanish university was founded here.

The city is watched over by the imposing sculpture of Cristo del Otero which, standing 20 metres tall, dominates the area from one of the hills surrounding the city.

Calle Mayor, Palencia's main thoroughfare, is the backbone of the city running north to south and boasts distinguished façades and a great many shops. To one side of this major road stands the arcaded Main Square, the site of the façades of the City Hall, from the 19th century, and the church of San Francisco, a Franciscan building from the 13th century.

The surrounding streets lead towards the “unknown beauty”, which is how Palencia's Cathdral (14th century) is known. The austerity of its Gothic façade conceals a wealth of art inside. Among its most prized treasures are a valuable plateresque reredos (16th century) and the crypt of San Antolín, with remains of the Romanesque and Visigothic temples which stood on the same spot centuries earlier. Lastly, inside the cloister, a visit can be made to the Cathedral Museum, which contains works by painters such as El Greco and Zurbarán.

Next to the Cathedral is the Episcopal Palace, site of the Diocesan Museum, whose collection includes pieces of relgious art from several churches in Palencia. Palencia's extensive choice of culture is completed with other premises, such as the Archaeological Museum, the Victorio Macho Museum or the Díaz-Caneja Foundation, this latter institution devoted to contemporary art.

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