Los Arapiles

Los Arapiles, two hills and a wide plain, are situated 8 km to the south of Salamanca city. These three places have been declared Historical Site. On the 22nd July, 1812 one of the most important battles of the Peninsular War took place there, the battle of Salamanca.

The isolated army – English, Portuguese, German and Spanish soldiers – commanded by the Duke of Wellington defeated the French army commanded by Marmont Marshal. More than 100.000 soldiers of both sides took part in the fighting.

The French had 12.500 losses and the allied army lost 5.200 soldiers. Historians believe that Los Arapiles defeat was the beginning of the end for Napoleon. A monolith at the top of Arapil Grande commemorates the Battle.

There is a signaled way which takes the visitors around the different sites of the battle field. In the village of Arapiles, an Interpretation Tutorial explains the battle details.

Apart from an audiovisual, the tutorial has some amazing information panels, some copies of war guns of that time and some mockups – one of them is a 5 meters long mockup which contains 5.200 figures that are around 1 cm high and represent one of the key moments of the battle accurately.