Cortes of Castile and León

The Seat of the Cortes of Castile and León (Spanish: Sede de las Cortes de Castilla y León) is a legislative building opened in 2007 for the Cortes of Castile and León, situated in the city of Valladolid.

Castile and León is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983 by the merging of the provinces of the historic region of León: León, Zamora and Salamanca with those of Old Castile (Castilla la Vieja): Ávila, Burgos, Palencia, Segovia, Soria and Valladolid. The provinces of Santander and Logroño, which until then had been included in the Old Castile administrative division, opted out of this merger and formed the new Autonomous Communities of Cantabria and La Rioja respectively. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is however sparsely populated, with a population density below 30/km2. Its population is the second oldest of Spain. While a capital has not been explicitly declared, the seats of the executive and legislative powers are set in Valladolid by law, and for all purposes that city (also the most populated municipality) serves as the de facto regional capital. Castile and León is a landlocked region, bordered by Portugal as well as by the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Aragon, Castilla–La Mancha, the Community of Madrid and Extremadura. Chiefly comprising the northern half of the Inner Plateau, it is surrounded by mountain barriers (the Cantabrian Mountains to the North, the Sistema Central to the South and the Sistema Ibérico to the East) and most of the territory is drained by the Douro River (Spanish: Duero), flowing west toward the Atlantic Ocean. The region contains eleven World Heritage Sites, making it (along with Lombardia in Italy) the region with most UNESCO World Heritage Sites. UNESCO recognizes the Cortes of León of 1188 as the cradle of worldwide parliamentarism.

The Monastery of Nuestra Señora del Prado (Spanish: Monasterio de Nuestra Señora del Prado) is a monastery located in Valladolid, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1877.

Estadio José Zorrilla was a multi-use stadium in Valladolid, Spain. It was initially used as the stadium for Real Valladolid matches. The first match took place on 3 November 1940 with a 4–1 win over Arenas Club de Getxo. The capacity of the stadium was 18,000 spectators, although this was extended for the last game of the 1980–81 season to 22,000 with the use of temporary seating for a match against Real Madrid. It was replaced by the current Estadio José Zorrilla in 1982, although the reserve team, Real Valladolid B, carried on using the ground until 1984. The stadium was finally demolished in 1987. The site is now occupied by a branch of the El Corte Inglés department store.

Valladolid Science Museum (Spanish: Museo de la Ciencia de Valladolid) was opened in May 2003 as a museum and an iconic piece of architecture based on an old flour mill. Rafael Moneo and Enrique de Teresa used a lot of the old industrial complex to create this new Science Museum.

Polideportivo Huerta del Rey is an arena located in Valladolid, Spain. It is primarily used for team handball and is the home arena of BM Atlético Valladolid and BM Aula Cultural. From 1976 to 1985 it was the home of CB Valladolid in basketball, before moving to the Pabellón Polideportivo Pisuerga which is used by the handball team for European matches. The arena holds 3,500 people.

Pabellón Polideportivo Pisuerga is an arena in Valladolid, Spain. It can hold 6,800 people. It is primarily used for basketball and the home arena of CB Valladolid, who moved into it from the Polideportivo Huerta del Rey in 1985. BM Valladolid, a handball team who play at the aforementioned venue, use Pisuerga for European games due to its larger capacity. Bob Dylan performed at the arena during his Never Ending Tour on July 9, 2006. In 2010, the arena was renovated by adding seats in all the stands.

The Campo Grande (English: "Large Field") is a large public park located in the heart of the city of Valladolid, Spain. It is triangular, has a 115,000 m² (11.5 ha) surface and is limited by the street Acera de Recoletos, the Paseo de los Filipinos and the Paseo de Zorrilla. Its main entrance is in the Plaza de Zorrilla, where together with a modern bill gate lies a floral shield of the city. The park is closed around its perimeter by a simple fence that runs between pillars, with doors on all sides. Compared with the Retiro Park in Madrid it is 10 times smaller in size (11.5 ha compared to 118), and almost 30 times smaller in size than Central Park in New York City (11.5 ha compared to 341). Its origin as a park or, more specifically, as a garden area, dates back to 1787, although from the fifteenth century it must be regarded as an important urban space. A notable feature of the park is the abundant bird population. Spread over the surface lies a Faisanera, an aviary and a loft belonging to Castilla Pigeon Club, which make the peacocks, pheasants and pigeons very numerous and they've become the real inhabitants of the park. It has a variety of trees that makes it a true botanical garden. At various points in its history it was called the Field of Truth and then the Field of Mars, but it finally consolidated as Campo Grande.

The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Duero's second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and León. Its traditional source is called Fuente Cobre, but it has been discovered that the real source is a glacier higher in the mountains. The river flows south into the Douro river shortly after passing through the city of Valladolid. Its length is approximately 270 kilometres (170 mi). Since the 1950s the water level of the river has been very regular throughout the year due to the huge Aguilar de Campoo dam which collects all the water from the river's rainy upper valleys. This regulation has allowed the creation of vast extensions of irrigated farmland along the Pisuerga's course across the northern Castilian plain.

The Lope de Vega Theatre (Teatro Lope de Vega) is a theatre in Valladolid, Spain, situated on María de Molina street. It was inaugurated in 1861, designed by the architect Jerónimo de la Gándara. In the seventeenth century the site of the theatre was a patio equipped with a stage for putting on plays and covered boxes for the audience. The patio was covered in the eighteenth century, and the Plaza de la Comedia lasted until 1856, when it was proposed to replace the now-ruinous building with a new theatre. Jerónimo de Gándara was the architect.The Teatro Lope de Vega was inaugurated on 8 December 1861. The facade, restored in 1920, is in the classical style. It has two levels, each with three arches, and a pediment that holds a medallion with the likeness of Lope de Vega sculpted by Ponciano Ponzano. More recently an iron and glass canopy was added. The theatre was renovated in 1960, reopening as a cinema and theatre, but closed on 30 April 2000.The Caja Duero, a bank, bought the run-down theatre for seven million euros in April 2006. In March 2007 it was estimated that another seven million euros would be needed to rehabilitate the theatre. Given the high cost, there were delays in getting the project started. In August 2008 the president of the bank confirmed that they had received an offer to buy the theatre and convert it for use as a gaming room. In August 2008 the mayor of Valladollid, Francisco Javier León de la Riva, said he was confident that work would be started to undertake a major restoration for the listed building. The project was sponsored by the Caja Duero and had strong public support.

The Palacio de la Ribera (also known as "Palace of the Bank") was the summer residence of Philip III in Valladolid. It was built in the 17th century (1602-1605) as part of a process of urban transformation upon the establishment of the Spanish Court in Valladolid between 1601 and 1606. The palace was situated at the Huerta del Rey neighborhood, located across the Parque de las Moreras on the right bank of the Pisuerga river. The palace grounds extended from the Puente Mayor to Ribera de Don Periáñez del Corral and delimited at both sides by the Pisuerga river and the Camino del Monasterio del Prado. The palace was gradually abandoned until it became part of the destroyed cultural heritage of Valladolid in 1761. Some ruins of the building are still preserved.

Cristo Rey Polytechnic Institute is a private Catholic primary, secondary, and vocational training college, located in Valladolid, in the Castile and León region of Spain. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1939 in the wake of the Spanish Civil War, the school began as a technical school, and then grew to include infant, primary, secondary, baccalaureate, PCPI, and CF of middle and superior degree.