The Episcopal Town

Las tierras de Gormaz recorridas por el Duero (ppa)
The history of El Burgo de Osma unfolded on a formerly uninhabited site, the result, as we have already mentioned above, of the construction of the Romanesque cathedral in the epoch of Pedro de Bourges. In the course of time, a group of adobe dwellings gradually sprang up around the cathedral, providing accommodation both for its clergy and the workers involved in its construction, as well as for other craftsmen and merchants. Thus, an urban area characterized by narrow, irregular streets was formed, one which in the 15th century, under Bishop Montoya, was enclosed within a walled perimeter.

La Puerta de San Miguel es la única que queda de las cuatro que tenía la muralla (mas y jlc)
This protection wall featured four gates, of which the western Puerta del Puente Viejo still survives today. The gate is also referred to as Puerta del Rφo or even Puerta de San Miguel, owing to its proximity to the western cathedral portal, likewise called San Miguel.

Fuente de la plaza de San Pedro (ppa)
The cathedral square constituted the centre of the town right up to the 18th century, when the limits of El Burgo were extended during the Baroque. Up to then, the Town Hall had been situated adjacent to the cathedral building, along with the local prison and the bull pens, opposite the block of arcaded houses that were built by the canons subsequent to their secularization in the 15th century and which, having been destroyed by fire, were later rebuilt by Bishop ValdΘs in the 17th century.

Casas de canónigos reconstruidas en el siglo XVII (ppa)
As a result of the extension of El Burgo and the transfer of its Town Hall to the newly created Plaza Mayor, the square which would itself soon become the focal point of life in the town, the necessary land was made available for the building of the cathedral ambulatory, the new sacristy designed by Juan de Villanueva and the chapel dedicated to the memory of Venerable Palafox. Furthermore, a clear distinction was made between areas devoted to religious and civil activities, thus putting an end to the confusion that had previously led to countless disputes between town and cathedral authorities.

Being as it is a reflection of both the new trends of the Enlightenment and those that preceded it, the Plaza Mayor was designed in a fashion that adhered to the example set in the late 17th century by the construction with the support of Bishop ArΘvalo of the San Agustφn hospital and which was also in keeping with the characteristic model of arcaded dwelling houses, the latter having fostered the development of trade ever since the times of Alfonso XI, when El Burgo was granted the right to hold a weekly market on Sundays.


Hospital

Ayuntamiento

Universidad (ppa)
The initiative of bishops Eleta and Calder≤n was to endow El Burgo with a public space connecting its cathedral complex with the cultural heart of the town, namely the University of Santa Catalina, which, founded in the 16th century, was erected outside the town walls under the auspices of Bishop ┴lvarez dÆAcosta. Each of the above inevitably linked with the figure of the bishop constitute highly interesting architectural landmarks that punctuate the urban area of this episcopal town, a further two examples of which being the Seminary and the Royal Hospice, both of which date from the late 18th century.