Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción

The west façade, where it all began. This is the oldest part, from the Middle Ages, from the time these lands were resettled. On a plain with no quarries, the Mudéjar builders worked with what they had — brick and rubble — and turned it into art. Look for the five blind brick arches, which open onto nothing and exist only to give the wall rhythm, light and shadow. Below, the door through which the village's first residents entered for Mass.

The bell gable. The bell tower of villages that couldn't afford a proper tower. From the square you can see two bells, but walk around the south side and you'll find a third, smaller one. At the top, its usual tenants: the storks.

The north doorway. This is how you enter the church today. It dates from the 16th century, between the late Gothic and the Renaissance: an arch of large voussoirs fanning out like rays of sun, framed by a granite alfiz. In a land of mud brick, that carved stone was a luxury — the calling card of the village that paid for it.

The 1679 cross. Facing the doorway, a granite cross bearing its date and the name of the priest who commissioned it.

A hidden dome. The tallest part of the building, a brick box with a four-sided roof, holds the crossing dome inside. You'd never guess it from outside. Inside, it's one of the visit's surprises.

Through the doorway lies a bright, white space, mostly the work of the 18th century.

The vaults. Covered in plasterwork: geometric gypsum designs in relief, layered like lace, that multiply the light.

The main altarpiece. It isn't gilded: it imitates coloured marble. At its centre, the Virgin of the Assumption, the parish's patron, amid clouds and cherubs. On either side, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Teresa of Ávila, the great Ávila-born saint.

The side altarpieces. Gilded, with twisted columns covered in vines and clusters of grapes. Between them, a 17th-century Saint Agatha attributed to the school of Gregorio Fernández, the great sculptor of Valladolid, and the Virgin of Mount Carmel, paid for in 1801 by a Carmelite friar born in the village.

For years, the back wall served as the village's handball court (frontón). In 1935, the young people asked the town council for 225 pesetas to repair it; the council, which had no more to give, provided 114. In 1956, residents paid 25,000 of the 34,750 pesetas it cost to repair the roof and floor out of their own pockets. This church wasn't just built — it has been cared for by everyone, together.

Start at the west façade and walk around the south side to see the third bell and the volume that hides the dome. Continue behind the apse and finish on the north side, facing the granite doorway and the cross. You'll have walked through six hundred years in a few steps, and you'll be standing at the door, ready to go in.

Listen to the audio guide at the church's QR codes.