Peñaranda de Duero is a city and a municipality located in the south of the province of Burgos (Spain), Castile and León, 18 kilometers from Aranda de Duero.
Tourism and main attractions
The castle of Peñaranda de Duero is a well preserved Gothic castle. The castle originally dates from the 10th century but reforms by Counts of Miranda del Castañar in the 15th century changed much of the building. Today the castle stands at the start of a defensive wall that formerly surrounded the town, of which only the crenellated arch of “Las Monjas” still stands.
The castle was an important point on the fortified line which existed between the medieval Christian Kingdom of Castile and the Moor state of Al Andalus during the 10th century. The castle is a narrow walled precinct, with a four story keep rising from the center.
The keep features a rooftop terrace, battlements, a gallery of machiolations, and three additional square towers, two of which flank the ogival arch that marks the entrance. The walls are solid stone ashlar stone, although much of the keep features decorative wooden beams.
The Palace of the Counts of Miranda (or Palace of Avellaneda), also known as Zúñiga is a Renaissance building from the first third of the 16th century. Its construction began due to Francisco de Zúñiga y Velasco, third count of Miranda del Castañar, attributing its authorship, although with doubts, to Francisco de Colonia or Nicolás de Vergara.
The palace is a building where the first Renaissance coexists with elements of the Gothic tradition.
With a rectangular floor plan, it is articulated around the porticoed patio. Its wide façade opens onto the main square of the town, and its rear part overlooks a plot of land enclosed by a stretch of wall built in the same years, where the garden used to be. The facade concentrates the decorative elements on the cover and on the windows of the main floor.
The palace had gardens and an orchard that were decorated with fountains and sculptures that were preserved in the house until the 1930s. Currently, part of these lands are occupied by the Peñaranda municipal swimming pool.
The former collegiate church of Santa Ana is a church which dates back to the mid-sixteenth century. In the past it had the rank of collegiate church and Enrique de Valderrábano was chapel master there. Towards 2014 restoration works were carried out on the facade and ceilings.
Other places of interest include:
Convent of San José del Carmen, was built in the sixteenth century.
Botica: pharmacy of the Jimeno family from the 17th century that has a museum. Today it is still in operation, it is one of the oldest in Spain. It was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in the Monument category on March 20, 2007.
Hermitage of the Virgen de los Remedios.
How to get to?
From Burgos 1 hr 2 min (93.7 km) via A-1
From Valladolid 1 hr 37 min (120 km) via A-11 and N-122
From Madrid 2 hr 6 min (191 km) via A-1
Main information
Area: 64 km² (municipality)
Coordinates: 41°41′14″N 3°28′39″W
Population: 511
Languages: Spanish
Currency: Euro
Visa: Schengen
Time: Central European UTC +1
