What is missing
21 circles with a blank face
They are not holes. The stone disc is carved, moulding and all, from the day each side went up. What was never sculpted is the face. The square has been carving them since 1730 and has not finished; you can see these from anywhere in the square if you look up.
Town Hall side
Arches 6 al 11, 14 al 17.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
Petrineros side
Arches 7, 11 al 12, 14 al 19, 21, 24.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
Counting the years
34 were carved in one go, between 1730 and 1733, while the square was going up. One more arrived in 1746. And there it stopped: 221 years passed without a single spandrel being touched. The only one added in between was Franco’s, set in place in 1937 outside the scheme and removed in 2017.
Work resumed in 1967. Since then 23 have been carved, the last in 2023: 23 medallions in 56 years, one every 2.5 years on average. At that rate, the 21 spandrels still blank would take another 51 years to fill.
Two sides finished, two half done
They are not spread evenly. The Royal and San MartÃn sides do not have a single blank spandrel. All 21 that are missing are on the other two, Town Hall and Petrineros.
And they come in runs, not scattered. Standing under one of those stretches, you see the row of empty circles one after another.
Who should fill them
It is still argued about. Since 1967 the blanks have been filled giving priority to sculptors from Salamanca and to figures tied to the city, and every round has had its row. The latest to arrive was Alfonso IX, in August 2023, for the 800th anniversary of the University.