Verraco del puente, Stone animal statue at Roman bridge entrance, Salamanca, Spain
The Verraco del puente is a granite sculpture of a bull or boar placed at the entrance of the Roman bridge in Salamanca. The figure sits directly on the ground and measures about 210 cm long and 157 cm tall, putting it at eye level for people walking past.
The figure was made around 400 BCE by the Vettones, an ancient people who lived on the Iberian Peninsula before the Romans arrived in the region. These animal figures, known as verracos, were placed by this people across many sites, and a large number survive today in the Castile and León region.
The stone bull appears in the medieval novel Lazarillo de Tormes, one of the most read works in Spanish literature. Visitors walking past today often touch the figure, following a habit that has quietly taken hold among locals and travelers alike.
The sculpture stands at the bridge in the center of Salamanca and is easy to reach on foot from the old town. It is accessible at any time since it sits in the open air on the pavement, with no barriers or enclosure around it.
In 1834, a provincial governor ordered the figure to be thrown into the Tormes River, where it broke into three pieces. Workers recovered the fragments and put the sculpture back together in 1867, so the figure visitors see today is made from the original broken pieces.
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