The House of Shells is a man-made treasure of Salamanca (15 photos)

In the heart of Salamanca, Spain, there is an unusual palace whose façade is decorated with hundreds of stone shells. This is Casa de las Conchas, the House of Shells, built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries.





Its first owner, Talavera Maldonado, was the chancellor of the Order of Santiago, and that is why shells, a symbol of this knightly brotherhood, cover the walls like sea gifts washed ashore by time.

History Frozen in Stone



Construction began in 1493, but Maldonado never saw his house completed. His son, Rodrigo Arias Maldonado, continued the work, and by 1517 the building had acquired its current appearance.

The façade, a bizarre mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Mudejar, contains more than 300 carved shells. They not only recall the Order of Santiago, but also symbolize the pilgrimage route to the tomb of the Apostle James. Here are also the coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs, four Gothic windows, each with its own unique pattern, and a portal with the Maldonado family coat of arms. Above the entrance are dolphins, a sign of love in the Renaissance, and intricate plant ornaments.





A majestic tower once towered over the city, but it was intentionally shortened by a third, since it was too clearly reminiscent of the power of a noble family. Inside is a spacious courtyard with a well, which once supplied the house with water.

The balconies are decorated with honeycombs and woven patterns - echoes of the Moorish influence. And along the edge of the roof there are heraldic lilies and chimera-gargoyles, as if guarding ancient secrets.

Legends of hidden gold



They say that under each shell here there is a gold coin (and according to other versions - a whole ounce of gold). But the most intriguing legend says that one of the owners of the house hid the family jewels under one of the shells on the facade. In his will, he indicated the size of the treasure, but not its exact location. Anyone who wants to find the treasure must make a deposit - an amount equal to the value of the treasure. If luck smiles on them, the gold goes to the lucky person, and the deposit is returned. If not - goodbye, fortune.

Whether this is true or not is unknown, but even today some tourists carefully peer into the carved walls, hoping to solve the centuries-old riddle.



The last inhabitants of the palace were the managers of the Count of Santa Coloma. Later, the Menendez Pelayo College was located here, and in 1967, the Count handed over the building to the city council for a symbolic fee - one gold peseta for 99 years.

The Shell House now houses a public library. And perhaps, somewhere among the ancient books and stone patterns, a forgotten treasure is still waiting for its time.





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