To visit Medina de Pomar you should start with the Plaza del Buen Conde de Haro, a nice place that has a fountain where thw statue of Juan de Salazar y Espinosa is, the founder of the capital of Paraguay. This square is the union between the ancient center and the new buildings. The Calle Mayor and the street of Laín Calvo allow walkers to reach the historical center. This is where some parts of the old walls from the 14th Century reamin, which hold the Arco de la Cadena, a northern door to the medieval area. The Arco de la Judería from the 17th Centry is located in the west. The church of Santa Cruz is stuck to the walls. This place has Neoclassical doors from the 19th Century, an angular shape and a Gothic interior from the 15th century. It holds Pre-Renaissance tombs and Barroque retables. The Plaza Mayor holds the city council (1989), raised above elegant porticos. The viewpoint located in the interior offers a beautiful panoramic above the vegetable gardens and the Truba river. The Alcázar from the Velasco family is a powerful Gothic building from the 14th Century, formed by big cubic towers that are united by a central body that is shorter, where the living room of the castle was built and that could be entered through spiral stairs. It maintains the walls in great condition and the remaining parts of the Mujedar plaster works. The southern tower conserves another baseboard with Arabe insciptions, African characters and Kufic letters where it is possible to read the sentence “Mater Dei Miserere Mei”. The arabe characters are translated as “Ala is the only winner”. This area is used as the noble living room for conferences, meetings, summer classes and the archive of the municipality.
The Alcázar was built by Pedro Fernández de Velasco betweem 1370 and 1433. In the year 1896 the dukes of Frias gave it to the city hall. In 1933 it was declared a Cultural Interest Property. The Historical Museum of the Merindades, located in the Fortress of the Velasco, explains the history, archeology and patrimony of the region. In the terrace of the last floor you will get a beautiful view of all of the villages and the merindades. You will need a guide to be able to get into the northern tower.
Outside the urban center and on the way to the south, close to the Trueba river, the Santuray of the Virgen del Rosario, a Gothic temple of the 13th and 14th Centuries, is located, with Romanic ellements and three naves. Nowadays, this place is under restoration. Not too far away from that, the main monument of Medina de Pomar is located: the Convent and Museum of Santa Clara. It was founded in 1313 by Sancho Sánchez de Velasco and his wife Sancha García, The Major Waitress of Leonor from Aragon, to become the cemetery of the Condestables family. This Cultural Interest Property is nowadays inhabited by a community of Clarisas. The church of one only nave is formed by three spaces of different times and styles, as it can be seen of the domes located in different heights. The Major Chapel has three retables covered in gold leaf; in the central one (Baroque from 1774) we can find the remarkable tabernacle known as the “Manifestador de la Paloma”. The Chapel of the Concepción has a beautiful octogenarian domes with stars that reminds us of the Chapel of the Condestables from the Burgos Cathedral. The bars that work as the entrance where made in 1545 by the master Cristóbal de Andino. There is a region with glass cabinets where many objects of monastic use are exhibited, such as bowls, jars, a communion window Rococo style and vases.
The room stuck to the temple is where the Museum of the Condestables is located. Between its treasures we find the Flemish board of La Adoración de los Magos from the 15th Century and a Dying Christ from Gregorio Fernández, from the 17th Century. In the Chapel of San Millán, a Romanic temple from the 13th Century, we can find the Center of Romanic Interpretation from the Merindades, which gives information about more than 100 churches and monasteries of this style that can be visited in the region. 8 kilometers away from Medina de Pomar, Villarcayo, close to the Nela river, is found. They have a beautiful city hall form the 19th Century, the amazing Tower of Merino, many Santa Maria houses such as the Díez Isla and the Danvila from the 17th and 18th Century and the Parrochial Church. The landscape from El Soto is one of its best attractions. On the east side of Medina de Pomar you will be able to go for a little adventure to the valley de la Losa, with Romanic churches in every village.