Explorer Burgos

The Museum of Human Evolution, opened in 2010 on the south bank of the Arlanzón, was designed by the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. It presents human evolution through fossils and finds from the Sierra de Atapuerca sites, about 16 km away, and organises bus visits to the excavations and to an experimental archaeology centre.

The Arco de Santa María is one of the twelve medieval gates of Burgos, remodelled from 1536 as a triumphal gateway honouring Emperor Charles V. Its façade carries statues of Charles V, El Cid, Count Fernán González and the city's founder Diego Porcelos. The rooms inside the gatehouse are open to visitors and hold exhibitions.

The Church of San Gil Abad is a Gothic church built against the city wall beside the San Gil gate, in its present form from the late 13th to the late 14th century. Behind its plain exterior, side chapels added in the 15th and 16th centuries by masters who also worked on the cathedral hold altarpieces and merchants' tombs.

Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary, begun in 1221 on a French Gothic plan. Its openwork spires, the Constable's Chapel and the crossing tower were added in the 15th and 16th centuries. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, it holds the tomb of El Cid and Doña Jimena beneath the crossing.

The Church of San Lesmes Abad is a Gothic church on Plaza de San Juan, built after King John I of Castile had the hermitage holding the saint's tomb pulled down in 1383. Inside are the alabaster tomb of St Lesmes, patron saint of Burgos, a carved stone pulpit, a Plateresque choir and a small parish museum.

The Church of San Esteban is a Gothic church built in the late 13th and early 14th centuries on the slope of the castle hill. No longer used for worship, it houses the Museo del Retablo, where altarpieces restored from parish churches across the province stand in the naves, the cloister and the chapter house.

The Church of San Nicolás de Bari stands beside the cathedral on Calle Fernán González, on the Way of St James. Built in 1408 over a Romanesque church, it is known for its main altarpiece carved in stone rather than wood by Simón and Francisco de Colonia, with 464 figures, paid for by the merchant family of Polanco.

Santa Gadea, officially the Church of Santa Águeda, is a small single-nave church a few steps from the cathedral. Tradition places here the oath El Cid made King Alfonso VI swear that he had no part in the death of his brother Sancho II. The present building is later, from the 14th to 17th centuries, and a plaque by the door recalls the event.

The Castle of Burgos crowns the hill above the old town, where Count Diego Porcelos raised a first tower in 884. It grew into a royal fortress of Castile and was blown up by retreating French troops in 1813. Partly rebuilt, it has an interpretation centre, a medieval well 62 metres deep and underground galleries.

The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a convent of Cistercian nuns founded in 1187 by King Alfonso VIII of Castile and his wife Eleanor of England, about 1.5 km west of the centre of Burgos. Compulsory guided tours show the church with its royal tombs, the cloisters and the Museum of Medieval Fabrics.