Sepulcher of Doña Aldonza Díez Maldonada in the Capilla de Anaya, Old Cathedral of Salamanca. Shown as a serene recumbent figure with a rosary in hand, her monument blends personal devotion with late Gothic artistry, linking her memory to the sacred life of the cathedral.
In the Old Cathedral of Salamanca, the Capilla de Anaya shelters a quiet yet striking tomb. It belongs to Doña Aldonza Díez Maldonada, remembered as the mother of Fernán Nieto, a nobleman active around 1500.
Her effigy shows her lying in repose, a rosary in her hand, framed by carvings of the Virgin and holy women. Unlike the grand monuments of bishops and dukes, Aldonza’s tomb reflects devotion and family memory rather than worldly power.
Art historians trace its style to fifteenth-century Toledo, where Hispano-Flemish influences brought grace and realism to stone. Though her exact story remains partly veiled, Aldonza’s monument still speaks of faith, dignity, and the place of women in Salamanca’s medieval nobility.
