18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The mystery of Cathedral of Salamanca’s astronaut figure, isn’t what people think it is

There is a photograph of an “astronaut” carved in a 16th century Spanish cathedral in Salamanca. Known as the Catedral Nueva, the entrance façade of this cathedral features a strange modern figure who appears to be an astronaut wearing a helmet.

This picture, circulating the internet, could easily cause someone to pause and even rethink their position on the validity of ancient aliens.

However, this spacesuit, complete with tubes and boots, shows an accurate depiction of what a man in space would be outfitted with. And the picture is not fiction or fabrication.

The Catedral Nueva, or ‘New Cathedral’ is not new at all, as is the way of many churches in European cities. It’s a building project that started back in 1513, and was interrupted by various events, including the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Cathedral of Salamanca is actually two churches joined together, one dates back to the 12th‒13th centuries, while the newer one dates back to the 16th century.

Salamanca’s biggest and loveliest surprise is its enclosed Main Square. Dating from the 18th century, it’s a marvel of sandstone that seems to have survived intact, rather like the Place de Vosges in Paris. Up to 150 years ago, they would have had an unsettlingly fine view of the bullfights that took place in the plaza below. A bull’s head in stone still protrudes over one of the exits from the square to signal the fact.

View of Cathedral of Salamanca, Castilla y Leon region, Spain.
View of Cathedral of Salamanca, Castilla y Leon region, Spain.

Salamanca is one of three university cities close to Madrid that attracts visitors interested in culture and particular places of veneration.

As with most pictures that circulate the internet making weird claims, there is a deeper story behind the carving on Catedral Nueva and it doesn’t involve aliens at all.

According to reports, the astronaut carvings were included only recently; in fact they were only included in 1992, and not the 12th or 16th century.

While it is true that Catedral Nueva’s construction began in 1513, under the order of King Ferdinand, married to the famous Queen Isabella, there was no such carving at the time of the project’s completion.

One of the artists, Jeronimo Garcia, who was responsible for working on the project, decided that he would add a personal touch to the work and decided to include two sculptures that were modern in creation.

The explanation for why an astronaut was selected was because it was a symbol of the 20th century when one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind was achieving space flight and landing on the Moon.

That is not all, as the artist even included figure of a dragon eating an ice-cream, a lynx, a bull, a stork, a rabbit, and a crayfish.

It can be fun to look into concepts like the ancient astronauts theory, but most of the time, there are far more plausible explanations than the idea that aliens once roamed the Earth, inspiring people to carve statues of them into cathedrals.

Related Articles

Tajik Buddha in Nirvana – the Largest in the World: 42 feet long and 9 feet high

31 December 2023

31 December 2023

In the past, while Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan destroyed two immense statues of Buddha, art historians in neighboring Tajikistan meticulously...

Jiroft: The Mysterious Rival of Mesopotamia and the Dawn of an Ancient Civilization

24 March 2025

24 March 2025

Recent archaeological discoveries in southeast Iran are reshaping our understanding of early civilizations, particularly the Jiroft Civilization, which thrived around...

The 11-meter giant statue of the island of Naxos “Dionysus of Apollonas”

22 March 2023

22 March 2023

One of the two ancient marble quarries, thought to have begun the sculpture, the greatest art of antiquity, is located...

Sacred Seduction: Kamasutra Feminism and the Legacy of Ancient Erotic Temples

8 April 2025

8 April 2025

For many, the Kamasutra is merely a name linked to condom brands and erotic chocolates, often dismissed as just a...

Ancient musical instrument “Chang” symbolizing Azerbaijan’s rich cultural heritage

16 March 2022

16 March 2022

Harp is a world-famous, ancient, stringed musical instrument. Chang, in terms of structure, is a harp-like stringed musical instrument. The...

Rare African Script Offers Clues to the Evolution of Writing Systems

4 February 2022

4 February 2022

The world’s very first invention of writing took place over 5000 years ago in the Middle East, before it was...

Some interesting facts regarding its use the Galata Tower in Istanbul

10 July 2021

10 July 2021

The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most recognizable landmarks, and its bright lights can be seen from all across...

World’s Oldest Murder

14 February 2021

14 February 2021

Researchers found a mass grave in a cave in Spain, now known as Sima de los Huesos, or the Pit...

Seven Roman altars multicolored in the Great Northern Museum

12 November 2021

12 November 2021

We know that the ancient world is now very colorful. But these colors weren’t just limited to robes and other...

World’s Oldest Customer Complaint “at 3800 Years Old”

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

When we are not satisfied with the product we receive, what almost all of us do is complain about the...

Georgia’s Queen of Kings “Tamar the Great”

17 August 2021

17 August 2021

Queen Tamar (1160-1235 CE) reigned during Georgia’s Golden Age, when the country’s frontiers stretched from the Black Sea to the...

Clarifying The Complexities Of Communication Across Millennia In Mesoamerica

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced...

Queen of Seas Who Challenged Rome: ‘Queen Teuta’

31 October 2023

31 October 2023

Illyrian Queen Teuta is one of the most extraordinary figures of Illyrian antiquity and of Albanian heritage. She was also...

Incredible Mayan Inventions and Achievements

31 July 2022

31 July 2022

The Mayans excelled at agriculture, pottery, writing, calendars, and arithmetic, leaving an incredible quantity of spectacular architecture and symbolic artwork...

World’s First Pregnant Ancient Egyptian Mummy has been Discovered

29 April 2021

29 April 2021

Experts from the Polish Academy of Sciences aim to research all mummies in museums as part of the Warsaw Mummy...