Toro, Zamora

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Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Spain.

It was previously known as Albocela or "Arbucale". Its actual name cames from the stone bull made by the vacceans, a celtic tribe. Toro is known as a center of Mudéjar art and as a wine-producing region.

An enormously important town declared to be a Historic-Artistic Site. Its strategic position gave rise to it being a site of conflict between Christians and Muslims, a court of kings and the capital of the province in the 19th century. The town of Toro is built in the shape of a fan and in its centre stands the collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor, from the 12th century. Outstanding on the outside is the multicoloured western door, called the door of His Majesty; and on the inside, the famous Flemish painting La Virgen de la Mosca, a splendid way of the cross and an unusual pregnant Virgin. Next to the collegiate church is the Espolón viewing point, which offers views of a fertile plain known as the Oasis of Castile. The town also has the remains of a wall from 910; and the gates of Corredera and Santa Catalina, from the 17th and 18th centuries. Noteworthy civil buildings include the façade of the Law Palace, the City Hall, and the palaces of the Counts of Requena, the Marquis of Alcañices or the Marquis of Castrillo. And among the ecclasiastical buildings, the churches of San Lorenzo el Real, in the Mudejar Romanesque style; San Salvador de los Caballeros, which contains a Museum of Religious Art; San Sebastián, and the monasteries of Sancti Spiritus, Santa Clara and Santa Sofía.