One of the most beautiful of the many Romanesque churches in Zamora, the Magdalena was begun in 1157 for the Order of San Juan and completed early in the 13th century. The form is a simple parish church of its era—a single narrow rectangular nave with a semicircular apse. What sets this church apart (beyond the extensive restoration carried out in the late 20th century) are the remarkable stone carvings. The capitals of the four pairs of columns supporting the main door are embellished with dragons that have both human and animal heads. The exquisite carvings continue inside the church, with laughing heads on the moldings over the arches. Two tabernacles are embedded in carved stone, and there is a magnificent tomb of a now-anonymous woman watched over by a pair of carved angels.