Complutense University of Madrid
Encyclopedia
The Complutense University of Madrid ' onMouseout='HidePop("36942")' href="/topics/Latin">Latin
: Universitas Complutensis) is a university in Madrid
, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid
, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón
.
According to the annual university rankings conducted by El Mundo
, the Complutense University ranks as the top public university in Spain, with its Schools of Philosophy, Spanish Literature, History, Pharmacy, Optometry, Journalism, Psychology, and Sociology holding the top national rankings. The University is also an affiliate of the Spanish Royal Societies of Physics and Mathematics.
The Complutense University's origins lie in the Middle Ages
, when King Sancho IV of Castile
created the on 20 May 1293. In 1499, Pope Alexander VI
granted the request of one of its former pupils, Cardinal Cisneros, to convert it into a full university; the Papal Bull
renamed the institution , after , which was the Latin
name of , where the University was originally located.
In the 1509–1510 school year, the Complutense University operated with five schools: Arts and Philosophy, Theology
, Canon Law
, Philology
and Medicine. The University flourished in the 16th century, especially under the early benefaction of Cisneros who, as Archbishop of Toledo
, was able to endow it richly. Cisneros attracted many of the world's foremost linguists and biblical scholars to Alcalá to produce the of the University, the or Complutensian Polyglot Bible
, printed in five massive volumes (including a popular glossary volume) complete in 1517, but delayed publication by Papal order until 1520 (distribution probably later in 1522). The edition was one of the great works of philology of the Renaissance
, comprising critical editions of all of the books of the Bible in their original Hebrew
, Greek
and Aramaic
, as well as the authorized Latin
Vulgate
text. Cisneros borrowed or acquired most of the known Biblical manuscripts of his day for the project. The complexity of the typography alone ranks it among the greatest achievements of Spanish scholarship. Owing to unfortunate mishaps, most copies of the edition have not survived, but this singular achievement launched the Complutense into the company of the greatest universities of the world.
suppressed the university in Alcalá and ordered its move to Madrid, where it took the name of Literary University and, in 1851, of Central University of Madrid. The University would be known under this name until its original name of "Complutense" was restored in the 1970s.
As a product of the mid-19th century mindset of "renewal" (after the dark absolutist years that characterized the reign of Ferdinand VII), the Central University of Madrid had a fundamental objective of ending the system of traditional education typical of the Ancien Régime and replacing it with a new, liberal mindset. The University initially occupied the edifice of the Seminary for Nobles (originally built to serve as a school, later placed into service as army barracks during the Spanish War of Independence, and finally serving as military hospital prior to its occupation by the Central University), later relocating to the Salesian Convent on San Bernardo Street. In 1842, the institution moved to the former Jesuit Novitiary, which would serve henceforth as the seat of the Central University; today this building houses the Instituto de España ("Institute of Spain"), a state agency under which the eight Royal Spanish Academies exist. The modern Paraninfo on San Bernardo was built in 1852 using the walls of the former Jesuit church.
The Moyano Law of 1857 established the Central University as the sole university in Spain authorized to confer the title of Doctor
on any scholar. This law remained in effect until 1954, when the authorization was extended to the University of Salamanca
in commemoration of its septecentenary. In later years, the right was extended to all Spanish universities, ending the monopoly of the Central University over this distinction.
Complutense University awarded Albert Einstein
a Doctor of Science
degree Honoris Causa on 28 February 1923. In his speech of acceptance, he declared:
This was the first Doctor of Science
degree Honoris Causa that Albert Einstein
accepted from a European University. In April 1933 the Minister for Education and the Arts, Fernando de los Ríos, announced that Einstein had agreed to take charge of an extraordinary professorship in a research institute, which would bear the name Instituto Albert Einstein, under the University's School of Science. However, as the political situation began to deteriorate throughout Europe, Prof. Einstein ended up accepting a similar position at Princeton University
.
the University had been based in a number of preexisting, government-acquired properties – mainly aristocratic mansions and royal châteaux from centuries past, abandoned by their owners for more contemporary lodgings. Though they were not without their charm, the ancient buildings were not precisely ideal as educational settings, and the early 20th century witnessed the students of the Central University attending philosophy lectures and anatomy lessons in elaborate spaces that had served as ballrooms and salons only a few decades prior. Moreover, the haphazard collection of buildings was hardly conducive to the bureaucratic functions of the University as a whole, given that very few of them were actually grouped near each other on the Calle San Bernardo, and, as such, a significant amount of time was lost just in undertaking the distance between the University properties strewn about the center of Madrid in the attendance of routine bureaucratic tasks. This is not to mention the significant inconvenience to students enrolled in faculties too large to fit in a single building, or those who decided to take on multiple studies (implying multiple travels, from one building to another, across the center of Madrid, potentially several times a day).
This curious situation changed by the grace of His Majesty King Alfonso XIII. It was tradition in Spanish Kingdom that, upon the assumption of an important regal anniversary, the individual provinces and territories would make great shows of loyalty and affection towards the benign rulers by way of lavish and elaborate presents as a gesture of allegiance and affection towards the crown (donations of lands, construction of great monuments, and the gifting of enormous amounts of regional wares to the rulers).
To the surprise of many, however, Alfonso XIII declined the anticipated gifts commemorating the Silver Jubilee
of his rule (having reached his majority in 1902), instead declaring that it was his dream that a new university should be built in Madrid, replacing the current, scattered, shabby institution with a fine center of learning, "a new Athens
", whereby the perfection of the educational process would be achieved and the lives of students improved, with complete intellectual, moral and physical formation. What's more, he went on to declare that this should be the magnum opus of his reign, and that he would spend more upon this effort than he had previously ever invested on matters such as the battleships that had so recently played a part in the Moroccan Wars; this would be called, henceforth, la Ciudad Universitaria, or University City.
It was such that on 7 May 1927, a royal decree called into existence the Junta Constructora de la Ciudad Universitaria, and Alfonso XIII officially ceded the royal lands in the proximity of the Palace of La Moncloa, which at the time constituted all of the land between the Royal Palace and the Palace of El Pardo
, today comprising a vast swath of western Madrid and stretching well outside the city limits.
The Junta was composed of a number of academics, architects, juridical and financial consultants, and presided directly by the King, although it should be made clear that while this was a government-funded project, it was in no way controlled by the government, the academics firmly holding the reins and the official organisms of the state represented on the board only by the Minister of Education and the Mayor of Madrid
; it was the King's will that the University should be a project for the nation, but directed by the intellectual elite rather than it be compromised by the underhanded ways of politicians. It was for this reason that it was decided that the project should not be funded mainly by way of government funds, but rather via a special lottery, for which an enthusiastic and remarkably effective publicity campaign was organized; the lottery was so successful, in fact, that, combined with the generous donations of the ruling classes and numerous industries, the funds required for construction of the campus buildings were acquired by 1930. Meanwhile, the Weimar Republic
and a number of South American nations graciously opted to donate the funds necessary to build the student residences for the University in a show of international intellectual solidarity.
Meanwhile, the Junta had decided that the new University of Madrid would require the innovative architecture befitting the "new Athens"; as such, a team of academics was sent out on an international expedition to visit the finest universities in Europe and North America, to combine the best of both continents and design the utopian academic setting. Mssr.'s López Otero, Cásares Gil, Dr. Simonena, Del Amo, and Julio Palácios, amongst others, set about a whirlwind tour which took them to 19 universities in the American northeast, as well as to Paris, Lyon
, Oxford
, Berlin, Hamburg
, and numerous other European cities, all in an effort to discern the best possible building structure. The architectural tendencies of the era, however, ended up having a greater influence than the academics' visits to Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania
, La Sorbonne or the University of Berlin; while the final plans from this period are hardly recognizable to anyone familiar with the contemporary campus, the buildings from the era that managed to survive the design revisions, the Civil War and the Franco regime, betray the period's fondness for the German Bauhaus
movement. Indeed, the original buildings, exemplary amongst them the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontology, are a paean to structural functionalism and the graceful utilitarianism
of the 1920s.
It is of some irony that Alfonso XIII, who wished the new University to be the defining triumph of his reign, never got to see any of the buildings through to completion, much less inaugurate any of the classes. Deposed in 1931, he found himself exiled in Rome when, on 15 January 1933, Manuel Azaña
, President of the Second Spanish Republic
(and former professor, as well as graduate, of said University), officially inaugurated the first classes in the new University of Madrid campus in the mostly finished School of Philosophy. During the Second Spanish Republic the Schools of Philosophy, Pharmacy, Medicine, Odontology, Architecture, Agronomy, Chemistry and Physics Sciences would be completed, as well as the Clinical Hospital, the Del Amo Foundation, and the Velazquez House, which housed the School of Diplomacy.
The first graduating class in the new campus was over 40% female students (a dramatic change from the traditional, male-dominated educational system which had until then been the norm in Spain). The last years of the Alfonsine monarchy and the early part of the Second Spanish Republic marked the "silver Age" of Spanish intellectualism, exemplified by the "Generation of '27
", a diverse group of intellectuals which included the poet Federico García Lorca
, filmmaker Luis Buñuel
, philologist Dámaso Alonso
and philosopher Julián Marías, amongst others, many of whom were students of the University of Madrid. A "silver Age" of Spain, it was, indeed, the Golden Age of the Complutense, which at the time counted with one of the most distinguished staffs of its 800-year history, its professorship including luminaries such as José Ortega y Gasset
, Julian Besteiro
, and Santiago Ramón y Cajal
. Its administration at the time also reads like a list of the who's who of government, the administration being headed by alternating former and future presidents of the Spanish state. At the time, the University of Madrid's School of Philosophy was widely considered to rival the University of Berlin for the position of being the best in Europe, if not the world.
It was also during this time that the University enjoyed its greatest period in terms of visiting professors, serving as a safe haven to the Jewish intelligentsia
of northern Europe fleeing the growing influence of anti-Semitic fascism. Unfortunately, those visitors, as well as many of the native professors, were forced to flee once again after the attempted coup led by Francisco Franco
on 17 July 1936, which began the Spanish Civil War
.
The campus served as one of the primary fronts during the Siege of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War
; the International Brigades
has its headquarters in the School of Philosophy, and its soldiers occupied all of the campus buildings, which were connected by a series of elaborate trenches. Ciudad Universitaria was literally the final bastion between Republican Madrid and Franco's troops; a small stream used to cross the area now occupied by the School of Communications, and a small wall which preceded it marked the border between nacionales and republicanos
.
Throughout the course of the war the University campus witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict; the area was exposed to heavy artillery fire and bombardments, and even as the Nationalist troops began to make headway, the International Brigade forces held strong and literally fought from building to building, at times even from floor to floor of the campus, managing to hold out until the very last moments of the war. It was in the School of Pharmacy that one of the icons of the Civil War, the Catalan
anarchist Buenaventura Durruti
, would be killed (although controversy surrounds his death, with some claiming he was assassinated by the Communists, others noting he died at the hands of a companion whose machine gun went off by mistake – his death was publicly attributed to a sniper's bullet "for reasons of morale and propaganda"). Large part of the original of the University's rich intellectual patrimony was lost forever; although most of the 500-year-old library of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, founder of the University, was able to be evacuated. Renaissance manuscripts, amongst many other priceless documents stored in the University archives and libraries, were used by troops loyal to the Second Spanish Republic
to fortify on-campus bunkers against the persistent enemy gunfire and to keep fires burning for warmth. Some of the survivors of the war would later recall, with some amusement, how many times their lives had been saved by the greats of Spanish literature, the verbal ingenuity of Cervantes quite literally saving their lives by stopping bullets halfway through the sizeable girth of his Don Quixote, and stacks of the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española
providing cover from deadly shrapnel. One English volunteer, fighting in the French Commune de Paris Battalion, wrote:
At war's end in 1939, over 40% of the original campus was completely levelled, and all of the buildings showed significant damage. For a time the Francoist victors of the war considered leaving the area as it was, a virtual moonscape. It was eventually decided, however, that the area should be restored and rehabilitated as a symbol of the new regime, albeit with some alterations – chief amongst them the new plans for a monumental main building with a Sistine Chapel
-type interior, and a large church. While those two particular plans never came to fruition, the direct involvement of Franco in the rebuilding of the University meant that, though the original plans were largely followed, chapels were now incorporated into each of the buildings. Today, this creates a curiously contradictory situation, whereby one has certain buildings, such as the School of Philosophy, with streamlined architecture that epitomizes the liberal spirit of the 1920s and borrows heavily from Weimar Germany, and yet features a first-floor chapel which, fitted into a highly art-deco setting, seems implausible as a place of serious spiritual reflection.
Franco's influence on-campus was not limited to the imposition of his Catholic ideals. As a result of the war, as could be expected, the staff was purged of all liberals and Republican sympathizers, and replaced with members of the Falangist movement. What's more, the University charters were altered to compel all students to reside either in government-sanctioned dormitories or personal family homes. The dormitories staffed with members of the falangist movement, the regime aspired to be able to oversee all aspects of the student's lives, hoping to mold them into devotees of the "nationalist movement". Moreover, there was an active attempt by the government to dominate the University from the very beginning. The original buildings, restored or rebuilt from 1940 until 1945, were all personally reinaugurated, with solemn mass and elaborate ritual, by "El Caudillo" himself; enormous plaques of marble (still visible today) were placed at the entrance of each of these buildings declaring that the institution had been rebuilt under Minister X under the generous and courageous leadership of Generalísimo Francisco Franco on such and such date of such and such year.
Although these buildings were rebuilt in their original, architecturally innovative style, Franco broke completely with the campus plans with the new buildings, and imposed his vision of an "Imperial" Madrid harkening back to the traditionally Catholic age of Philip II
and the styles exemplified by the palatial monastery of El Escorial
. Although a lack of funds fortunately prevented the entire campus from taking on the turreted look imposed by his regime upon other parts of Madrid (a clear example being the castle-like Ejército del Aire building), this particular architectural style defined a few of the new buildings, including the José Antonio Dormitory, named after the founder of the fascist Falangist movement, José Antonio Primo de Rivera
(since converted into one of the University's secretarial buildings and subsequently renamed). The campus also took on a more somber look immediately after the war, on account of Franco ordering that all the trees replanted on the campus of the cypress
genus, trees traditionally planted in cemeteries in Spain, as a symbol of the "fallen martyrs of the national movement" (this situation was changed later during Franco's regime, and continued over the last half-century, and the campus now actually features some of the most diverse flora of Madrid.
Despite their dedicated efforts, however, period events indicate that Franco was not successful in his attempts to totally control the minds and hearts of the University's students; despite the political oppression of the era, it is evident that even in those early years of the dictatorship and after a brutal Civil War, some of the political students of the University of Madrid were already actively revolting against the government. Its buildings destroyed during the war, the University had been compelled to move back into the pre-Ciudad Universitaria mansions and châteaux; the students took advantage of their lodgings in the city center, and some took the opportunity to hold lightning protests and rallies on the Gran Via and other main thoroughfares whenever possible. Seeking to avoid any potentially embarrassing or undermining displays of civil disobedience and revolt in the face of his newly minted regime, Franco ordered that all efforts be devoted to finishing the University buildings with all due haste, in order to get the students back out into the then-distant Moncloa area and away from the city center as soon as possible. Even though the press of the era was too heavily censored to report on the matter, students from that time recall, with some glee, that the landmark accomplishment of Franco's University rebuilding efforts, the construction of the School of Law and the School of Philosophy in a mere 5 months, due not to the zeal on the part of the builders, but rather to the concern of the unshakeable dictatorship.
During the Franco Regime, the Complutense University was at the forefront of the clandestine opposition movements; the politically active university students came to be ranked, along with the labour and nationalist movements, as one of the chief threats to the stability of the dictatorship. Consequently, members of the Secret Police were infiltrated into the classes in order to monitor the students, and the Falange
Party was given the task of patrolling the grounds. The 1960s, in particular, saw some of the most polemic moments in the University's history. From 1963 until the late 1970s, members of both the local and government police were kept perpetually stationed on campus; police officers on horseback were frequently ordered to charge the spontaneous anti-Franco protests that would form along the main university thoroughfares, and several times entire departments were shut down in response to confrontations between the authorities and the student body. In October 1971, the School of Medicine was shut down entirely throughout an entire year due to conflicts with the police, and on numerous occasions the police was actually reported to have staged charges within the actual buildings, although there was an unspoken rule of sanctuary, generally respected, by which the police refrained from actually entering classrooms to arrest suspected protesters.
During the later years of the Francoist regime, the new Somosaguas campus was specifically planned to accommodate the Schools of History and Political Science, respectively, in order to move the most politicized sectors of the University to the relatively isolated town in the outskirts of Madrid. To this day the Somosaguas Campus lies almost completely disconnected from the rest of the University, as well as the Metro lines – in terms of public transportation, it is accessible only by way of a twenty minute bus ride (and by the new light metro line, only since June 2007).
On campus, one of the lasting symbols of this era is graffiti from the early 1950s that still dominates a portion of the School of Philosophy's rotunda: painted in chemicals used for photo developments (which also happen to be permanent and shine when exposed to sunlight), the message calls for freedom of expression in the University and freedom from the Falange Party, which at the time exercised its jurisdiction over the campus. Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz & Manuel Lamana, the students who painted the message, would later be caught and sentenced to twenty years hard labour building the Valle de los Caídos, from which they would later stage a spectacular escape, as fictionalized in the 1998 film Los años bárbaros.
The Complutense University would also be the site of intense, and often bloody, marches and protests during the politically charged years of the post-Franco Transition
period.
In 1970 the University returned to its original name. When, later, the people of Alcalá de Henares decided to open a university within the old campus buildings in that city, they were obliged to name it to clearly separate it from the Complutense University.
, and their positions in the Second Spanish Republic
and the post-Franco transition to democracy
were particularly notable. The current first Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
, and the former President
, José María Aznar
, are both graduates of the university. The Complutense University has also played host to some of the most significant figures of the intellectual world, with a long tradition of visiting professors amongst which feature some of the greats of world academia (most notably, Albert Einstein
). A significant part of the European intelligentsia flocked to its halls during the 1930s, when democratic Spain provided a refuge from the rising terrors of fascism; while the tradition of distinguished visiting professors somewhat diminished during the Franco years, the University has recovered its former splendour in the decades since, although it continues to employ very few non-Spanish academics. This last fact may explain its poor international profile. The contemporary Complutense University has nevertheless counted numerous Nobel Laureates not only amongst its graduates, but also amongst its faculty members over the years.
Currently, the Complutense University is the largest university in Spain. During the 2004–2005 academic year the University recorded an enrollment of 91,598 students and employed a staff of 9,500, of which over 6000 are directly involved in teaching duties; the University operates on government subsidies, grants and enrollment funds, with a current annual budget of over 500,000,000 euros. The University currently offers nearly 80 possible majors, 230 individual degrees, and 221 doctorate programs. The University has over 30 libraries, with over 2 million works in print, a particularly rich archive of over 90,000 historical documents, and one of the most extensive film collections in Europe.
The Complutense University of Madrid is a member of the Europaeum
.
Due to its long history in the capital, the Complutense University enjoys great support from Madrid-based institutions, at a local, national and international level. The School of Medicine operates the Hospital Clínico Universitario de San Carlos, as well as a number of other specialized clinics located on-campus, some of which are operated jointly with the Ministry of Health or perform specific research for the Ministry. The School of Medicine is not the only one with government involvement; indeed, despite past conflicts, the Complutense University shares a close bond with the Spanish government, as made evident by the fact that the presidential residence of La Moncloa and the Spanish Constitutional Court are both located directly on-campus (with the political center of the city at walking distance).
The School of Communications, meanwhile, enjoys equally good relations with the press (large part of its professors being former reporters, editors, or directors of major Spanish and international newspapers). Moreover, the School is known particularly for its role as one of the main pre-screening locales for the nation; indeed, all major Spanish film productions are screened first before an audience of Complutense students, with the main actors or production figures of the films attending a post-screening press conference. Most recently, Blanca Portillo, Carmen Maura
, Lola Dueñas and Yohana Cobo pre-screened Pedro Almodóvar
's Volver
; past pre-screening visitors have included director Santiago Segura
, actor Alejo Sauras, and writer E. Annie Proulx
. Each year, the Madrid Círculo de Bellas Artes extends special invitations to the Complutense students during its series of annual conferences featuring prominent philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. Likewise, all of the faculties have been able to benefit greatly by lectures given by some of the most illustrious figures in recent history, of all fields, from singer-songwriter / Catalan activist Joan Manuel Serrat
to historian Ernst Gombrich
, from writer Umberto Eco
to communist politician Santiago Carrillo
. Alejandro Amenábar
wrote his first film, Tesis
, while still attending the Complutense University. All the on-campus scenes in the film were shot in the School of Communications, which Amenábar himself had attended, and the building itself serves as major device in the plot. Amenábar dropped out of the Complutense in part due to his antagonistic relationship with one of his professors, who kept failing him; as revenge, Amenábar named one of the main villains in Tesis, Professor Castro, after his teacher. Castro still teaches at the University.
The Complutense University publishes a bi-monthly newspaper, the Gaceta Complutense, and also features a fully operational radio station, Radio Complutense (107.5 FM), which broadcasts for 12 hours daily; both are run from the School of Communications.
While the University has a select number of registered dormitories, these are located on the fringes of the campus, within border neighbourhoods, and therefore no students truly live on campus proper. Due to the costs, and the fact that university-affiliated lodging is not required, the majority of the Complutense's student live independently, either in non-affiliated dormitories or in actual apartments.
In modern times, the Complutense University's student body continues to be highly politicized, with an active student government which most recently called for a student strike to protest the Bologna process
. All political parties have the right to on-campus representation, though there is a decided tilt towards leftist politics amongst the student body. Upon petition, student political groups can be granted actual offices within the University, some examples being En Construcción, the radical-leftist student organization with offices in the School of Communications, or Erre Que Te Erre (rqtr), the gay liberation front with offices in the School of Political Sciences on the Somosaguas Campus, notable for having been the first gay-rights group established in a Spanish university. In May 2006 the University hosted a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic and advocating the abolition of the monarchy and declaration of the Third Spanish Republic.
Separately from the political groups, the Complutense features a number of social and sports-related groups. The University counts on a strong Erasmus-support group and every school features a Tuna (traditional Spanish band), which compete in the nation-wide competitions. In terms of sports, aerobics, gym, yoga, swimming, tennis, diving, tai-chi, and numerous other courses are offered. In terms of team sports, the Complutense features male and female basketball, soccer, and volleyball divisions, as well as rugby. Chess, badminton, golf, judo, karate, squash, table-tennis, and archery teams also exist. Internal university games are held several times a year, with all of the different schools competing; the Complutense also participates in the regional university games, held each March at the Puerta del Hierro Stadium in Madrid, and the selected national competitions. All students, professors, staff-members, and family of staff-members have the right to be evaluated and attended to at the Complutense University Center for Sport and Fitness Medicine.
II Spanish Republic
Transition and Contemporary Administrations
Royal Family
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: Universitas Complutensis) is a university in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón
Pozuelo de Alarcón
Pozuelo de Alarcón is a suburb of over 85,000 inhabitants near the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. It is surrounded by large Mediterranean pine-tree forests: la Casa de Campo, el Monte del Pardo and el Monte del Pilar...
.
According to the annual university rankings conducted by El Mundo
El Mundo (Spain)
El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...
, the Complutense University ranks as the top public university in Spain, with its Schools of Philosophy, Spanish Literature, History, Pharmacy, Optometry, Journalism, Psychology, and Sociology holding the top national rankings. The University is also an affiliate of the Spanish Royal Societies of Physics and Mathematics.
Early history
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, when King Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV of Castile
Sancho IV the Brave was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. He was the second son of Alfonso X and Yolanda, daughter of James I of Aragon.-Biography:...
created the on 20 May 1293. In 1499, Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
granted the request of one of its former pupils, Cardinal Cisneros, to convert it into a full university; the Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
renamed the institution , after , which was the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name of , where the University was originally located.
In the 1509–1510 school year, the Complutense University operated with five schools: Arts and Philosophy, Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, Canon Law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, Philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and Medicine. The University flourished in the 16th century, especially under the early benefaction of Cisneros who, as Archbishop of Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, was able to endow it richly. Cisneros attracted many of the world's foremost linguists and biblical scholars to Alcalá to produce the of the University, the or Complutensian Polyglot Bible
Complutensian Polyglot Bible
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos...
, printed in five massive volumes (including a popular glossary volume) complete in 1517, but delayed publication by Papal order until 1520 (distribution probably later in 1522). The edition was one of the great works of philology of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, comprising critical editions of all of the books of the Bible in their original Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
, as well as the authorized Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
text. Cisneros borrowed or acquired most of the known Biblical manuscripts of his day for the project. The complexity of the typography alone ranks it among the greatest achievements of Spanish scholarship. Owing to unfortunate mishaps, most copies of the edition have not survived, but this singular achievement launched the Complutense into the company of the greatest universities of the world.
The Central University of Madrid
By a royal order of 29 October 1836, Queen Regent Maria ChristinaMaria Christina of the Two Sicilies
Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies was Queen consort of Spain and Regent of Spain .-Early years and first marriage:...
suppressed the university in Alcalá and ordered its move to Madrid, where it took the name of Literary University and, in 1851, of Central University of Madrid. The University would be known under this name until its original name of "Complutense" was restored in the 1970s.
As a product of the mid-19th century mindset of "renewal" (after the dark absolutist years that characterized the reign of Ferdinand VII), the Central University of Madrid had a fundamental objective of ending the system of traditional education typical of the Ancien Régime and replacing it with a new, liberal mindset. The University initially occupied the edifice of the Seminary for Nobles (originally built to serve as a school, later placed into service as army barracks during the Spanish War of Independence, and finally serving as military hospital prior to its occupation by the Central University), later relocating to the Salesian Convent on San Bernardo Street. In 1842, the institution moved to the former Jesuit Novitiary, which would serve henceforth as the seat of the Central University; today this building houses the Instituto de España ("Institute of Spain"), a state agency under which the eight Royal Spanish Academies exist. The modern Paraninfo on San Bernardo was built in 1852 using the walls of the former Jesuit church.
The Moyano Law of 1857 established the Central University as the sole university in Spain authorized to confer the title of Doctor
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
on any scholar. This law remained in effect until 1954, when the authorization was extended to the University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
in commemoration of its septecentenary. In later years, the right was extended to all Spanish universities, ending the monopoly of the Central University over this distinction.
Complutense University awarded Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
a Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree Honoris Causa on 28 February 1923. In his speech of acceptance, he declared:
So many are the honors and testimonies of warm sympathy that I have received during my visit to Madrid, that I can hardly find the words to express my gratitude. Because of this appointment as Doctor “Honoris Causa”, I feel as intimately related to your University, as those who in it began their studies of Science. You have dearly and profoundly penetrated in my work, with such success, that I need not adding anything on that regard. [...] I’m confident that your University will educate researchers active in both categories [theoretical and empirical Science], who will augment and deepen the extent of human knowledge.
This was the first Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree Honoris Causa that Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
accepted from a European University. In April 1933 the Minister for Education and the Arts, Fernando de los Ríos, announced that Einstein had agreed to take charge of an extraordinary professorship in a research institute, which would bear the name Instituto Albert Einstein, under the University's School of Science. However, as the political situation began to deteriorate throughout Europe, Prof. Einstein ended up accepting a similar position at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
The University at Ciudad Universitaria
The University greatly expanded during the 19th century, and its accommodations in central Madrid proved to be increasingly inadequate. Besides the greater number of students, after its move from AlcaláAlcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
the University had been based in a number of preexisting, government-acquired properties – mainly aristocratic mansions and royal châteaux from centuries past, abandoned by their owners for more contemporary lodgings. Though they were not without their charm, the ancient buildings were not precisely ideal as educational settings, and the early 20th century witnessed the students of the Central University attending philosophy lectures and anatomy lessons in elaborate spaces that had served as ballrooms and salons only a few decades prior. Moreover, the haphazard collection of buildings was hardly conducive to the bureaucratic functions of the University as a whole, given that very few of them were actually grouped near each other on the Calle San Bernardo, and, as such, a significant amount of time was lost just in undertaking the distance between the University properties strewn about the center of Madrid in the attendance of routine bureaucratic tasks. This is not to mention the significant inconvenience to students enrolled in faculties too large to fit in a single building, or those who decided to take on multiple studies (implying multiple travels, from one building to another, across the center of Madrid, potentially several times a day).
This curious situation changed by the grace of His Majesty King Alfonso XIII. It was tradition in Spanish Kingdom that, upon the assumption of an important regal anniversary, the individual provinces and territories would make great shows of loyalty and affection towards the benign rulers by way of lavish and elaborate presents as a gesture of allegiance and affection towards the crown (donations of lands, construction of great monuments, and the gifting of enormous amounts of regional wares to the rulers).
To the surprise of many, however, Alfonso XIII declined the anticipated gifts commemorating the Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
of his rule (having reached his majority in 1902), instead declaring that it was his dream that a new university should be built in Madrid, replacing the current, scattered, shabby institution with a fine center of learning, "a new Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
", whereby the perfection of the educational process would be achieved and the lives of students improved, with complete intellectual, moral and physical formation. What's more, he went on to declare that this should be the magnum opus of his reign, and that he would spend more upon this effort than he had previously ever invested on matters such as the battleships that had so recently played a part in the Moroccan Wars; this would be called, henceforth, la Ciudad Universitaria, or University City.
It was such that on 7 May 1927, a royal decree called into existence the Junta Constructora de la Ciudad Universitaria, and Alfonso XIII officially ceded the royal lands in the proximity of the Palace of La Moncloa, which at the time constituted all of the land between the Royal Palace and the Palace of El Pardo
El Pardo
The Royal Palace of El Pardo is a historical building near Madrid, Spain, in the present-day district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. Owned by the Spanish state and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional agency, the palace began as a hunting lodge.-Overview:...
, today comprising a vast swath of western Madrid and stretching well outside the city limits.
The Junta was composed of a number of academics, architects, juridical and financial consultants, and presided directly by the King, although it should be made clear that while this was a government-funded project, it was in no way controlled by the government, the academics firmly holding the reins and the official organisms of the state represented on the board only by the Minister of Education and the Mayor of Madrid
Mayor of Madrid
The Mayor of Madrid is an elected politician who, along with Madrid City Council, is accountable for the strategic government of Madrid....
; it was the King's will that the University should be a project for the nation, but directed by the intellectual elite rather than it be compromised by the underhanded ways of politicians. It was for this reason that it was decided that the project should not be funded mainly by way of government funds, but rather via a special lottery, for which an enthusiastic and remarkably effective publicity campaign was organized; the lottery was so successful, in fact, that, combined with the generous donations of the ruling classes and numerous industries, the funds required for construction of the campus buildings were acquired by 1930. Meanwhile, the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and a number of South American nations graciously opted to donate the funds necessary to build the student residences for the University in a show of international intellectual solidarity.
Meanwhile, the Junta had decided that the new University of Madrid would require the innovative architecture befitting the "new Athens"; as such, a team of academics was sent out on an international expedition to visit the finest universities in Europe and North America, to combine the best of both continents and design the utopian academic setting. Mssr.'s López Otero, Cásares Gil, Dr. Simonena, Del Amo, and Julio Palácios, amongst others, set about a whirlwind tour which took them to 19 universities in the American northeast, as well as to Paris, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, Berlin, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, and numerous other European cities, all in an effort to discern the best possible building structure. The architectural tendencies of the era, however, ended up having a greater influence than the academics' visits to Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, La Sorbonne or the University of Berlin; while the final plans from this period are hardly recognizable to anyone familiar with the contemporary campus, the buildings from the era that managed to survive the design revisions, the Civil War and the Franco regime, betray the period's fondness for the German Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
movement. Indeed, the original buildings, exemplary amongst them the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontology, are a paean to structural functionalism and the graceful utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
of the 1920s.
It is of some irony that Alfonso XIII, who wished the new University to be the defining triumph of his reign, never got to see any of the buildings through to completion, much less inaugurate any of the classes. Deposed in 1931, he found himself exiled in Rome when, on 15 January 1933, Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
, President of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
(and former professor, as well as graduate, of said University), officially inaugurated the first classes in the new University of Madrid campus in the mostly finished School of Philosophy. During the Second Spanish Republic the Schools of Philosophy, Pharmacy, Medicine, Odontology, Architecture, Agronomy, Chemistry and Physics Sciences would be completed, as well as the Clinical Hospital, the Del Amo Foundation, and the Velazquez House, which housed the School of Diplomacy.
Second Spanish Republic and Civil War
Generation of '27
The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
", a diverse group of intellectuals which included the poet Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, filmmaker Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
, philologist Dámaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas was a Spanish poet, philologist and literary critic. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards. -Early life and education:...
and philosopher Julián Marías, amongst others, many of whom were students of the University of Madrid. A "silver Age" of Spain, it was, indeed, the Golden Age of the Complutense, which at the time counted with one of the most distinguished staffs of its 800-year history, its professorship including luminaries such as José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
, Julian Besteiro
Julián Besteiro
Julián Besteiro Fernández was a Spanish socialist politician and university professor.-Early life:...
, and Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal ForMemRS was a Spanish pathologist, histologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were original: he is considered by many to be the father of modern neuroscience...
. Its administration at the time also reads like a list of the who's who of government, the administration being headed by alternating former and future presidents of the Spanish state. At the time, the University of Madrid's School of Philosophy was widely considered to rival the University of Berlin for the position of being the best in Europe, if not the world.
It was also during this time that the University enjoyed its greatest period in terms of visiting professors, serving as a safe haven to the Jewish intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
of northern Europe fleeing the growing influence of anti-Semitic fascism. Unfortunately, those visitors, as well as many of the native professors, were forced to flee once again after the attempted coup led by Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
on 17 July 1936, which began the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Ciudad Universitaria,
que el buen pueblo levantó
para mostrar a sus hijos
fuentes de estudio y amor,
¿cómo les dirás mañana
lo que en tus aulas pasó?
Antonio Argaz, Muerte de Durruti (1936)
The campus served as one of the primary fronts during the Siege of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
; the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
has its headquarters in the School of Philosophy, and its soldiers occupied all of the campus buildings, which were connected by a series of elaborate trenches. Ciudad Universitaria was literally the final bastion between Republican Madrid and Franco's troops; a small stream used to cross the area now occupied by the School of Communications, and a small wall which preceded it marked the border between nacionales and republicanos
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Throughout the course of the war the University campus witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict; the area was exposed to heavy artillery fire and bombardments, and even as the Nationalist troops began to make headway, the International Brigade forces held strong and literally fought from building to building, at times even from floor to floor of the campus, managing to hold out until the very last moments of the war. It was in the School of Pharmacy that one of the icons of the Civil War, the Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
anarchist Buenaventura Durruti
Buenaventura Durruti
José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange was a central figure of Spanish anarchism during the period leading up to and including the Spanish Civil War.-Early life:...
, would be killed (although controversy surrounds his death, with some claiming he was assassinated by the Communists, others noting he died at the hands of a companion whose machine gun went off by mistake – his death was publicly attributed to a sniper's bullet "for reasons of morale and propaganda"). Large part of the original of the University's rich intellectual patrimony was lost forever; although most of the 500-year-old library of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, founder of the University, was able to be evacuated. Renaissance manuscripts, amongst many other priceless documents stored in the University archives and libraries, were used by troops loyal to the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
to fortify on-campus bunkers against the persistent enemy gunfire and to keep fires burning for warmth. Some of the survivors of the war would later recall, with some amusement, how many times their lives had been saved by the greats of Spanish literature, the verbal ingenuity of Cervantes quite literally saving their lives by stopping bullets halfway through the sizeable girth of his Don Quixote, and stacks of the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española
Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española
The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española or DRAE is the most authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language. It is produced, edited, and published by the Real Academia Española ; the first edition was published in 1780...
providing cover from deadly shrapnel. One English volunteer, fighting in the French Commune de Paris Battalion, wrote:
When we next came back to University City we were put into the Philosophy Building. We built barricades with volumes of Indian metaphysics and early nineteenth-century German philosophy; they were quite bullet-proof. (...) Life here was quiet, orderly. On clear mornings, about eleven o'clock, we were bombed. A few shells came over late in the afternoons; the rest of the time we sniped, read, talked, studied Spanish, or dug trenches. (...) We explored the library; in the great reading-room anti-tank guns stood on the tables; the valuable books and manuscripts had been taken away, but there was plenty to interest us. (...) On a cold morning I found De Quincey's Lake Poets and rolled myself up in a carpet and read voraciously; the day passed in a stupor, I was with Wordsworth and Coleridge, in another place, another time...
John Sommerfield, Volunteer in Spain (1937)
Forty Years of Political Opposition
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
-type interior, and a large church. While those two particular plans never came to fruition, the direct involvement of Franco in the rebuilding of the University meant that, though the original plans were largely followed, chapels were now incorporated into each of the buildings. Today, this creates a curiously contradictory situation, whereby one has certain buildings, such as the School of Philosophy, with streamlined architecture that epitomizes the liberal spirit of the 1920s and borrows heavily from Weimar Germany, and yet features a first-floor chapel which, fitted into a highly art-deco setting, seems implausible as a place of serious spiritual reflection.
Franco's influence on-campus was not limited to the imposition of his Catholic ideals. As a result of the war, as could be expected, the staff was purged of all liberals and Republican sympathizers, and replaced with members of the Falangist movement. What's more, the University charters were altered to compel all students to reside either in government-sanctioned dormitories or personal family homes. The dormitories staffed with members of the falangist movement, the regime aspired to be able to oversee all aspects of the student's lives, hoping to mold them into devotees of the "nationalist movement". Moreover, there was an active attempt by the government to dominate the University from the very beginning. The original buildings, restored or rebuilt from 1940 until 1945, were all personally reinaugurated, with solemn mass and elaborate ritual, by "El Caudillo" himself; enormous plaques of marble (still visible today) were placed at the entrance of each of these buildings declaring that the institution had been rebuilt under Minister X under the generous and courageous leadership of Generalísimo Francisco Franco on such and such date of such and such year.
Although these buildings were rebuilt in their original, architecturally innovative style, Franco broke completely with the campus plans with the new buildings, and imposed his vision of an "Imperial" Madrid harkening back to the traditionally Catholic age of Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
and the styles exemplified by the palatial monastery of El Escorial
El Escorial
The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
. Although a lack of funds fortunately prevented the entire campus from taking on the turreted look imposed by his regime upon other parts of Madrid (a clear example being the castle-like Ejército del Aire building), this particular architectural style defined a few of the new buildings, including the José Antonio Dormitory, named after the founder of the fascist Falangist movement, José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
(since converted into one of the University's secretarial buildings and subsequently renamed). The campus also took on a more somber look immediately after the war, on account of Franco ordering that all the trees replanted on the campus of the cypress
Cupressus
The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group...
genus, trees traditionally planted in cemeteries in Spain, as a symbol of the "fallen martyrs of the national movement" (this situation was changed later during Franco's regime, and continued over the last half-century, and the campus now actually features some of the most diverse flora of Madrid.
Despite their dedicated efforts, however, period events indicate that Franco was not successful in his attempts to totally control the minds and hearts of the University's students; despite the political oppression of the era, it is evident that even in those early years of the dictatorship and after a brutal Civil War, some of the political students of the University of Madrid were already actively revolting against the government. Its buildings destroyed during the war, the University had been compelled to move back into the pre-Ciudad Universitaria mansions and châteaux; the students took advantage of their lodgings in the city center, and some took the opportunity to hold lightning protests and rallies on the Gran Via and other main thoroughfares whenever possible. Seeking to avoid any potentially embarrassing or undermining displays of civil disobedience and revolt in the face of his newly minted regime, Franco ordered that all efforts be devoted to finishing the University buildings with all due haste, in order to get the students back out into the then-distant Moncloa area and away from the city center as soon as possible. Even though the press of the era was too heavily censored to report on the matter, students from that time recall, with some glee, that the landmark accomplishment of Franco's University rebuilding efforts, the construction of the School of Law and the School of Philosophy in a mere 5 months, due not to the zeal on the part of the builders, but rather to the concern of the unshakeable dictatorship.
During the Franco Regime, the Complutense University was at the forefront of the clandestine opposition movements; the politically active university students came to be ranked, along with the labour and nationalist movements, as one of the chief threats to the stability of the dictatorship. Consequently, members of the Secret Police were infiltrated into the classes in order to monitor the students, and the Falange
Falange
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
Party was given the task of patrolling the grounds. The 1960s, in particular, saw some of the most polemic moments in the University's history. From 1963 until the late 1970s, members of both the local and government police were kept perpetually stationed on campus; police officers on horseback were frequently ordered to charge the spontaneous anti-Franco protests that would form along the main university thoroughfares, and several times entire departments were shut down in response to confrontations between the authorities and the student body. In October 1971, the School of Medicine was shut down entirely throughout an entire year due to conflicts with the police, and on numerous occasions the police was actually reported to have staged charges within the actual buildings, although there was an unspoken rule of sanctuary, generally respected, by which the police refrained from actually entering classrooms to arrest suspected protesters.
During the later years of the Francoist regime, the new Somosaguas campus was specifically planned to accommodate the Schools of History and Political Science, respectively, in order to move the most politicized sectors of the University to the relatively isolated town in the outskirts of Madrid. To this day the Somosaguas Campus lies almost completely disconnected from the rest of the University, as well as the Metro lines – in terms of public transportation, it is accessible only by way of a twenty minute bus ride (and by the new light metro line, only since June 2007).
On campus, one of the lasting symbols of this era is graffiti from the early 1950s that still dominates a portion of the School of Philosophy's rotunda: painted in chemicals used for photo developments (which also happen to be permanent and shine when exposed to sunlight), the message calls for freedom of expression in the University and freedom from the Falange Party, which at the time exercised its jurisdiction over the campus. Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz & Manuel Lamana, the students who painted the message, would later be caught and sentenced to twenty years hard labour building the Valle de los Caídos, from which they would later stage a spectacular escape, as fictionalized in the 1998 film Los años bárbaros.
The Complutense University would also be the site of intense, and often bloody, marches and protests during the politically charged years of the post-Franco Transition
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
period.
In 1970 the University returned to its original name. When, later, the people of Alcalá de Henares decided to open a university within the old campus buildings in that city, they were obliged to name it to clearly separate it from the Complutense University.
The Complutense University today
The Complutense University has played a major role in the political development of Spain since its founding. Its graduates have been members, at either Congressional or Ministerial level, in all of the governments of Spain since the EnlightenmentAge of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, and their positions in the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
and the post-Franco transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
were particularly notable. The current first Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, LLD is a Spanish Valencian Socialist politician. From 18 April 2004 to 20 October 2010, she was the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidency and Cabinet Spokesperson in the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...
, and the former President
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...
, José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
, are both graduates of the university. The Complutense University has also played host to some of the most significant figures of the intellectual world, with a long tradition of visiting professors amongst which feature some of the greats of world academia (most notably, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
). A significant part of the European intelligentsia flocked to its halls during the 1930s, when democratic Spain provided a refuge from the rising terrors of fascism; while the tradition of distinguished visiting professors somewhat diminished during the Franco years, the University has recovered its former splendour in the decades since, although it continues to employ very few non-Spanish academics. This last fact may explain its poor international profile. The contemporary Complutense University has nevertheless counted numerous Nobel Laureates not only amongst its graduates, but also amongst its faculty members over the years.
Currently, the Complutense University is the largest university in Spain. During the 2004–2005 academic year the University recorded an enrollment of 91,598 students and employed a staff of 9,500, of which over 6000 are directly involved in teaching duties; the University operates on government subsidies, grants and enrollment funds, with a current annual budget of over 500,000,000 euros. The University currently offers nearly 80 possible majors, 230 individual degrees, and 221 doctorate programs. The University has over 30 libraries, with over 2 million works in print, a particularly rich archive of over 90,000 historical documents, and one of the most extensive film collections in Europe.
The Complutense University of Madrid is a member of the Europaeum
Europaeum
The Europaeum is an organisation of ten leading European universities. It was conceived of in 1990–1991 by Lord Weidenfeld and Sir Ronnie Grierson to support the ‘advancement of education through the encouragement of European studies in the University of Oxford and other European institutions of...
.
The School of Communications, meanwhile, enjoys equally good relations with the press (large part of its professors being former reporters, editors, or directors of major Spanish and international newspapers). Moreover, the School is known particularly for its role as one of the main pre-screening locales for the nation; indeed, all major Spanish film productions are screened first before an audience of Complutense students, with the main actors or production figures of the films attending a post-screening press conference. Most recently, Blanca Portillo, Carmen Maura
Carmen Maura
Carmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar.-Early life:...
, Lola Dueñas and Yohana Cobo pre-screened Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
's Volver
Volver
Volver is a 2006 Spanish dramatic comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave...
; past pre-screening visitors have included director Santiago Segura
Santiago Segura
Santiago Segura Silva is a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.Santiago was born in the Carabanchel neighbourhood in Madrid. After studying Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, he decided to pursue a career as a film-maker and in 1989 he directed the short Relatos de...
, actor Alejo Sauras, and writer E. Annie Proulx
E. Annie Proulx
Edna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News , won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994, and was made into a film in 2001...
. Each year, the Madrid Círculo de Bellas Artes extends special invitations to the Complutense students during its series of annual conferences featuring prominent philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. Likewise, all of the faculties have been able to benefit greatly by lectures given by some of the most illustrious figures in recent history, of all fields, from singer-songwriter / Catalan activist Joan Manuel Serrat
Joan Manuel Serrat
Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa is a Catalan Spanish singer-songwriter.Serrat is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages...
to historian Ernst Gombrich
Ernst Gombrich
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE was an Austrian-born art historian who became naturalized British citizen in 1947. He spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom...
, from writer Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
to communist politician Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo Solares is a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982.- Childhood and early youth :...
. Alejandro Amenábar
Alejandro Amenábar
Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos is a Spanish- Chilean film director. Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile to a Spanish mother and Chilean father, but the family moved to Spain just one year after his birth...
wrote his first film, Tesis
Tesis
Tesis is a 1996 Spanish film. It is the feature debut of director Alejandro Amenábar, and was written by him and Mateo Gil. The movie won seven 1996 Goya Awards , including the award for Best Film. It stars Ana Torrent, Fele Martínez and Eduardo Noriega...
, while still attending the Complutense University. All the on-campus scenes in the film were shot in the School of Communications, which Amenábar himself had attended, and the building itself serves as major device in the plot. Amenábar dropped out of the Complutense in part due to his antagonistic relationship with one of his professors, who kept failing him; as revenge, Amenábar named one of the main villains in Tesis, Professor Castro, after his teacher. Castro still teaches at the University.
Student Life and Extracurriculars
While the University has a select number of registered dormitories, these are located on the fringes of the campus, within border neighbourhoods, and therefore no students truly live on campus proper. Due to the costs, and the fact that university-affiliated lodging is not required, the majority of the Complutense's student live independently, either in non-affiliated dormitories or in actual apartments.
In modern times, the Complutense University's student body continues to be highly politicized, with an active student government which most recently called for a student strike to protest the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
. All political parties have the right to on-campus representation, though there is a decided tilt towards leftist politics amongst the student body. Upon petition, student political groups can be granted actual offices within the University, some examples being En Construcción, the radical-leftist student organization with offices in the School of Communications, or Erre Que Te Erre (rqtr), the gay liberation front with offices in the School of Political Sciences on the Somosaguas Campus, notable for having been the first gay-rights group established in a Spanish university. In May 2006 the University hosted a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic and advocating the abolition of the monarchy and declaration of the Third Spanish Republic.
Separately from the political groups, the Complutense features a number of social and sports-related groups. The University counts on a strong Erasmus-support group and every school features a Tuna (traditional Spanish band), which compete in the nation-wide competitions. In terms of sports, aerobics, gym, yoga, swimming, tennis, diving, tai-chi, and numerous other courses are offered. In terms of team sports, the Complutense features male and female basketball, soccer, and volleyball divisions, as well as rugby. Chess, badminton, golf, judo, karate, squash, table-tennis, and archery teams also exist. Internal university games are held several times a year, with all of the different schools competing; the Complutense also participates in the regional university games, held each March at the Puerta del Hierro Stadium in Madrid, and the selected national competitions. All students, professors, staff-members, and family of staff-members have the right to be evaluated and attended to at the Complutense University Center for Sport and Fitness Medicine.
The Complutense Abroad
Besides an extensive series of accords permitting student/professor exchanges and study abroad opportunity with prestigious universities throughout the world, the Complutense University of Madrid currently operates four full-time institutions outside of Spain.- The Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(CambridgeCambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts): The RCC was founded as a joint cooperative institution to foster intellectual and scientific interaction between Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Complutense, with the support of HM King Juan Carlos I, HM Queen Sofia of SpainQueen Sofía of SpainQueen Sofía of Spain is the wife of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.-Early life and family:Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederika , a former princess of Hanover...
and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It follows the tradition of the Royal Spanish CollegeCollegio di SpagnaThe Collegio di Spagna is a college for Spanish students at the University of Bologna, Italy, which has been functioning since the 14th century. Its full original name in English translation was the College of Saint Clement of the Spaniards...
, founded in 1364 to host Spanish Visiting ScholarVisiting scholarIn the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
s at the University of BolognaUniversity of BolognaThe Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
. The RCC accord is the only one of its sort ever to have been approved by Harvard. The institution is directed jointly by the President of Harvard and the Rector of Complutense University, with an academic council formed by 5 Harvard professors and 5 Complutense professors. It permits a select number of Complutense professors to conduct their research at Harvard as Visiting ScholarVisiting scholarIn the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
s. RCC Fellows enjoy the same privileges as Harvard's non-tenured Faculty. Each year the institution hosts the RCC Fellows Lectures, a conference cycle during which the Visiting ScholarVisiting scholarIn the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
s deliver lectures revealing the results of their investigations to an audience of Harvard professors and students. Finally, it also permits a small number of students to attend doctoral school at the University as Research Associates, under scholarships hosted by the Spanish Royal FamilySpanish Royal FamilyThe Royal Family of the Kingdom of Spain consists of the current king, Juan Carlos, his spouse, Queen Sofia of Spain and their direct descendants. The Spanish royal family belongs to the House of Borbón...
. - Collège des Hautes Études Européennes Miguel Servet (Paris, France): founded upon the initiative of the Club Européen des Recteurs, the Collège des Hautes Études Européennes Miguel Servet is a Franco-Iberian center of learning and research located within the La SorbonneUniversity of ParisThe University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. Besides specialized degrees, it offers programs focused on jurisprudence and economy within the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, a double-major program in Franco-Iberian law, and the Diplôme de Formation Européenne, which is operates under the auspices of the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. It was awarded a status of 'centre d'excellence', and in 1995 it opened chapters in Italy, Portugal, and South America. - Cátedra Complutense en la Universidad de Karlova (Prague, Czech Republic): Full campus in operation, offering bachelor and doctoral degrees in partnership with Charles University (Univerzita Karlova v Praze) in Prague.
- Cátedra Dubcek (Bratislava, Slovakia): Full campus in operation, offering bachelor and doctoral degrees in partnership with Comenius University in Bratislava.
Government
Pre-20th century- Don John of Austria – Victor of the Battle of LepantoBattle of LepantoThe Battle of Lepanto normally refers to the 1571 Holy League victory over the Ottoman fleet. There were also three earlier battles fought in the vicinity of Lepanto:*Battle of Naupactus in 429 BC, an Athenian victory during the Peleoponnesian War...
, Spanish Governor of the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Grandee of Spain, the last Knight of Europe. - Alexander Farnese – Duke of Parma, Duke of Piacenza.
- Gaspar Melchor de JovellanosGaspar Melchor de JovellanosGaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was an Asturian-born Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain.-Life:...
– Prime Minister of Spain, theorist behind the Constitution of 1812 - Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso – President of the First Spanish RepublicFirst Spanish RepublicThe First Spanish Republic was the political regime that existed in Spain between the parliamentary proclamation on 11 February 1873 and 29 December 1874 when General Arsenio Martínez-Campos's pronunciamento marked the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in Spain...
- Emilio Castelar y RipollEmilio Castelar y RipollEmilio Castelar y Ripoll was a Spanish republican politician, and a president of the First Spanish Republic.Castelar was born in Cádiz. He was an eloquent and literary man...
– Journalist, Essayist, Minister during the First Spanish RepublicFirst Spanish RepublicThe First Spanish Republic was the political regime that existed in Spain between the parliamentary proclamation on 11 February 1873 and 29 December 1874 when General Arsenio Martínez-Campos's pronunciamento marked the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in Spain... - José RizalJosé RizalJosé Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
– National Hero of the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
II Spanish Republic
- Manuel AzañaManuel AzañaManuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
– Head of State & President of Spain at various points throughout the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... - Juan Negrín López – Last President of the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
- Gregorio MarañónGregorio MarañónGregorio Marañón y Posadillo was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, they had four children ....
– Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer, philosopher and political reformer - Julián Besteiro Fernández – Socialist Politician, Deputy during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
- Clara CampoamorClara CampoamorClara Campoamor was a Spanish politician and feminist best known for her advocacy for women's rights and suffrage during the writing of the Spanish constitution of 1931. A child of a working class family, Campoamor began work as a seamstress at age 13, later working in a number of government...
– Feminist Politician, Deputy during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... - Victoria KentVictoria KentVictoria Kent was a Spanish lawyer and republican politician.Born in Málaga, she was affiliated to the Radical Socialist Republican Party and came to fame in 1930 for defending - at a court martial - Álvaro de Albornoz, who would shortly afterwards go on to become minister of justice and later the...
– Essayist, Feminist, Deputy during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... - Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz y MenduiñaClaudio Sánchez-Albornoz y MenduiñaClaudio Sánchez-Albornoz y Menduiña was an eminent Spanish medieval historian, statesman, and a leader of the Spanish Republican government in Exile during the rule of Francisco Franco.- Education and Early Career :...
– Historian, Deputy during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... - Fernando de los Ríos Urruti – Anarquist Politician during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
Transition and Contemporary Administrations
- Adolfo SuárezAdolfo SuárezAdolfo Suárez y González, 1st Duke of Suárez, Grandee of Spain, KOGF is a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and the key figure in the country's transition to democracy.-Parents:He is a son of...
– first democratically elected Prime Minister after the Franco regime - Américo CastroAmerico CastroAmérico Castro y Quesada was a Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic who challenged some of the prevailing notions of Spanish identity, raising heated controversy with his conclusions that Spaniards didn't become the distinct group they are today until after the Islamic...
– Politician, Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic - José María AznarJosé María AznarJosé María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
– Former President of the Spanish Government (1996–2004) - Javier SolanaJavier SolanaFrancisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...
– European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
foreign policy chief and former NATO Secretary General - Esperanza AguirreEsperanza AguirreEsperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma, Countess of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, DBE is a Spanish politician and the current President of Madrid...
– Current regional President of Madrid - Enrique Barón CrespoEnrique Barón CrespoEnrique Barόn Crespo is a Spanish politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and sits with the Party of European Socialists group in the European Parliament....
– President of the European ParliamentPresident of the European ParliamentThe President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. He or she also represents the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The President's signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget.Presidents serve... - Manuel Fraga IribarneManuel Fraga IribarneManuel Fraga Iribarne is a Spanish People's Party politician. Fraga's career as one of the key political figures in Spain straddles both General Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime and the subsequent transition to democracy. He served as the President of the Xunta of Galicia from 1990 to 2005...
- Former Interior MinisterInterior ministerAn interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
/Father of the Spanish Constitution of 1978Spanish Constitution of 1978-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...
/Founder and President of the Spanish conservative People's PartyPeople's Party (Spain)The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
/former President of the Xunta de GaliciaXunta de GaliciaThe Xunta de Galicia is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President and the specialized ministers ....
/Member of the Spanish SenateSpanish SenateThe Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election... - María Teresa Fernández de la VegaMaría Teresa Fernández de la VegaMaría Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, LLD is a Spanish Valencian Socialist politician. From 18 April 2004 to 20 October 2010, she was the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidency and Cabinet Spokesperson in the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...
– Current Vice President of the Spanish Government (2004—) - Marcelino Oreja AguirreMarcelino Oreja AguirreMarcelino Oreja y Aguirre, 1st Marquis of Oreja is a Spanish lawyer, diplomat and politician.He served as Spanish minister of foreign affairs from 1976 to 1980, during which time he signed the Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations and was responsible for Spain joining the Council of...
– Secretary General of the Council of EuropeSecretary General of the Council of EuropeThe Secretary General of the Council of Europe is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers for a period of five years...
/Member of the European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
/European Commissioner for TransportEuropean Commissioner for TransportThe Commissioner for Transport is the member of the European Commission. The current commissioner is Siim Kallas.The portfolio is responsible for the development of transport infastructure in the European Union such as road and rail networks but also navigation systems such as the Galileo...
/European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy - Manuel Prado y Colón de CarvajalManuel Prado y Colón de CarvajalManuel Prado y Colón de Carvajal was a Spanish diplomat, businessman and politician. He served as an administrator for King Juan Carlos I of Spain for more than twenty years....
– Spanish diplomat/Politician/Royal Senator/Administrator of the Royal Household
- Rodrigo RatoRodrigo RatoRodrigo de Rato y Figaredo is a Spanish political figure who served in the government of Spain as Minister of the Economy from 1996 to 2004; a member of the conservative People's Party , he was also First Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004...
– Politician/former Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance/9th Chairman of the International Monetary FundInternational Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world... - Josep BorrellJosep BorrellJosep Borrell Fontelles is a Spanish politician. He was nominated President of the European University Institute on 12 December 2008, and assumed this position in January 2010. Borrell was President of the European Parliament from 20 July 2004 until 16 January 2007...
– former President of the European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world... - Manuel MarínManuel MarínManuel Marín González is a Spanish politician, former President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was a long-time member of the European Commission, and President during the interim Marin Commission following the Resignation of the Santer Commission, of which he was a member.-Early life and...
– member of the European CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
and President during the interim Marin CommissionMarín CommissionThe Marín Commission is an interim European Commission that served in office from 16 March 1999 to 12 September 1999. It consisted of its president, Manuel Marín, and the other commissioners....
/President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain - José Bono – former President of Castile-La ManchaCastile-La ManchaCastile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...
, former Defense Minister, current president of the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Ana PalacioAna PalacioAna Isabel de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi in Madrid, daughter of Luis María de Palacio y de Palacio, 4th Marqués de Matonte, and wife Luisa Mariana del Valle-Lersundi y del Valle, was Spain's Minister for Foreign Affairs in the People's Party government of José María Aznar from July 2002-March...
– former Spanish Minister of Foreign AffairsMinister of Foreign Affairs (Spain)The Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation is the department of Government of Spain responsible for Spain's foreign relations. The present incumbent of the office is Trinidad Jiménez of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party .... - Alfredo Pérez RubalcabaAlfredo Pérez RubalcabaAlfredo Pérez Rubalcaba is a Spanish politician and a leading figure in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He served in the government of Spain as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011; in addition, he was First Deputy Prime Minister from...
– Chemist/ former minister of the Ministry of Education (Spain), former Defense Minister, current minister of the Spanish Interior MinisterMinistry of the Interior (Spain)The Ministry of Interior of Spain which historically could be known as Ministerio de la Gobernación, Ministerio del Orden Público, Ministerio del Interior y la Gobernación or Ministerio del Interior y Justicia is the executive branch responsible for policing, national security, and immigration... - Elena SalgadoElena SalgadoElena Salgado Méndez is a Spanish politician currently serving as the First Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance of Spain, in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...
– current Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance - José María BarredaJosé María BarredaJosé María Barreda Fontes is a Spanish politician and academic. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, he was the President of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha from 2004 until 2011.-Biography:...
– current President of Castile-La ManchaCastile-La ManchaCastile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities... - José Manuel González ParamoJosé Manuel González ParamoJosé Manuel González-Páramo is a Spanish economist who has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since June 2004.González-Páramo studied Economics in Spain and, as a Fulbright Scholar, in the United States...
– Member of the Executive Board of the European Central BankExecutive Board of the European Central BankThe Executive Board of the European Central Bank is the organ responsible for monetary policy of the Eurozone.Members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank are nominated by agreement between the Heads of Government of the Eurozone countries for a non-renewable eight-year term The...
Royal Family
- Infanta Cristina of Spain – Duchess of Palma de Mallorca
- Letizia Ortiz RocasolanoLetizia, Princess of AsturiasLetizia, Princess of Asturias , is the wife of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne...
– Princess of AsturiasPrincess of AsturiasThis is a list of women who held the title Princess of Asturias by marriage.The title was created in 1388 for the future Henry III of Castile and Catherine of Lancaster. A part of the pact was to gran the young couple the title of Prince and Princess of Asturias, which was modelled after that of...
Journalism & Literature
- Antonio de NebrijaAntonio de NebrijaAntonio de Lebrija , also known as Antonio de Nebrija, Elio Antonio de Lebrija, Antonius Nebrissensis, and Antonio of Lebrixa, was a Spanish scholar, known for writing a grammar of the Castilian language, credited as one of the first published grammars of a Romance language...
– Writer - Antonio MachadoAntonio MachadoAntonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of '98....
– Poet, Member of the Generación del '98Generation of '98The Generation of '98 was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War ....
literary movement - Camilo José CelaCamilo José CelaCamilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquis of Iria Flavia was a Spanish novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".-Biography:Cela published his...
– Writer, Poet, Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(1989), Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
Recipient, Member of the Generación del '50 literary movement - Concepción ArenalConcepción ArenalConcepción Arenal was a Spanish feminist writer and activist.Born in Ferrol, Galicia, she excelled in literature and was the first woman to attend university in Spain...
– Journalist, Essayist, Political Figure - Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las RedondasDámaso AlonsoDámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas was a Spanish poet, philologist and literary critic. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards. -Early life and education:...
– Writer, Poet, Philologist, Member of the Generación del '27Generation of '27The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
literary movement, Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
Recipient. - Enrique Tierno Galván – Writer, Politician
- Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
– Poet, Playwright - Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio – Spanish Playwright
- Fermín Caballero – Early Journalist / Publisher, Congressional Deputy
- Francisco AyalaFrancisco AyalaFrancisco Ayala may refer to:* Francisco Ayala Spanish novelist* Francisco J. Ayala , Spanish-American biologist and philosopher...
– Writer, Nobel Prize for Literature Candidate, Principe de Asturias AwardPrince of Asturias AwardsThe Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
for Literature, Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
Recipient - Francisco de QuevedoFrancisco de QuevedoFrancisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo...
– Classical Writer - Gerardo DiegoGerardo DiegoGerardo Diego Cendoya was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.Gerardo Diego taught language and literature at institutes of learning in Soria, Gijón, Santander and Madrid...
– Writer, Poet, Member of the Spanish Royal Academy, Member of the Generación del '27Generation of '27The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
literary movement, Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
Recipient - Jacinto BenaventeJacinto BenaventeJacinto Benavente y Martínez was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922....
– Playwright, Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(1922) - Javier MaríasJavier MaríasJavier Marías is a Spanish novelist. He is also a translator and columnist.-Life:Javier Marías was born in Madrid. His father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco...
– Writer, translator, member of the Spanish Royal Academy - José Echegaray y Eizaguirre – Writer, Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(1904) - José Rodríguez Carracido – Writer, Chemist
- Letizia Ortiz RocasolanoLetizia, Princess of AsturiasLetizia, Princess of Asturias , is the wife of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne...
– Former reporter for TVE, current Princess of AsturiasAsturiasThe Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages... - María ZambranoMaría ZambranoMaría Zambrano Alarcón was a Spanish essayist and philosopher.Zambrano studied under and was influenced by José Ortega y Gasset and went on to teach Metaphysics at Madrid University from 1931 to 1936...
Writer, Philosopher - Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
– PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian writer (naturalized Spaniard), Principe de Asturias AwardPrince of Asturias AwardsThe Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
, Miguel de Cervantes PrizeMiguel de Cervantes PrizeThe Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
, Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(2010) - Miguel de UnamunoMiguel de UnamunoMiguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
– Writer, Member of the Generación del '98Generation of '98The Generation of '98 was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War ....
literary movement, Neo-Humanist Philosopher - Pío BarojaPío BarojaPío Baroja y Nessi was a Spanish Basque writer, one of the key novelists of the Generation of '98. He was a member of an illustrious family, his brother Ricardo was a painter, writer and engraver, and his nephew Julio Caro Baroja, son of his younger sister Carmen, was a well known...
– Writer, Member of the Generación del '98Generation of '98The Generation of '98 was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War ....
literary movement - Ramiro Ledesma RamosRamiro Ledesma RamosRamiro Ledesma Ramos was a Spanish national syndicalist politician, essayist, and journalist.-Early life:...
– Writer, Politician - Torcuato Luca de Tena y Álvarez-Ossorio – Journalist, founder of ABC
- Juan Ignacio Luca de TenaJuan Ignacio Luca de TenaDon Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena y García de Torres, 2nd Marquis of Luca de Tena was a Spanish journalist and playwright. His son was the journalist Guillermo Luca de Tena.- External links :*...
– Journalist, Playwright, Diplomat - Vicente AleixandreVicente AleixandreVicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo was a Spanish poet who was born in Seville. Aleixandre was a Nobel Prize laureate for Literature in 1977. He was part of the Generation of '27. He died in Madrid in 1984....
– Writer, Poet, Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(1970) - Xosé Luís Méndez FerrínXosé Luís Méndez FerrínXosé Luís Méndez Ferrín Galician writer and poet is widely considered the highest representative of contemporary Galician literature. Doctor in philology. Studied philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Romanic philology at the University of Madrid.He teaches literature at the...
– Writer - José Ortega SpottornoJosé Ortega SpottornoJosé Ortega Spottorno was a Spanish journalist and publisher. Born in Madrid to famous philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and Rosa Spottorno Topete, José Ortega Spottorno was the founder of affordable paperback publishing firm Alianza Editorial and the Spanish daily newspaper El País, which quickly...
– Journalist, founder of Alianza Editorial, co-founder of El País - Jesús de PolancoJesús de PolancoJesús Polanco Gutiérrez, also known as Jesús de Polanco was a businessman from Spain who built a considerable media empire...
– Journalist, co-founder of El País, founder of Editorial Santillana, Grupo PRISA and Cadena SERCadena SERLa Cadena SER is Spain's premier radio network in terms of both seniority and audience share... - Juan Luis Cebrián – Journalist, co-founder and former editor in chief of El País, member of the Real Academia EspañolaReal Academia EspañolaThe Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, head of Grupo PRISA
Philosophy
- Antonio de NebrijaAntonio de NebrijaAntonio de Lebrija , also known as Antonio de Nebrija, Elio Antonio de Lebrija, Antonius Nebrissensis, and Antonio of Lebrixa, was a Spanish scholar, known for writing a grammar of the Castilian language, credited as one of the first published grammars of a Romance language...
– RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
HumanistHumanismHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, Philologist - Domingo de SotoDomingo de SotoDomingo de Soto was a Dominican priest and Scholastic theologian born in Segovia, Spain, and died in Salamanca at the age of 66...
– Philosopher, Theologian, Theorist at the Council of TrentCouncil of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods... - Fernando SavaterFernando SavaterFernando Fernández-Savater Martín is one of Spain's most popular living philosophers, as well as an essayist and celebrated author....
– Philosopher - José Gaos y González PolaJosé GaosJosé Gaos was a Spanish-born philosopher who obtained political asylum in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War....
– Neo-Humanist Philosopher - Jose Luis López Aranguren – Philosopher
- José Ortega y GassetJosé Ortega y GassetJosé Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
– Neo-Humanist Philosopher, Founder of Ratio-Vitalism, Writer, Journalist, Deputy during the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... - Julián MaríasJulián MaríasJulián Marías Aguilera , was a Spanish philosopher. His History of Philosophy is widely accepted as the greatest work written in Spanish on the subject of the history of philosophy...
– Philosopher - María Isidra de Guzmán y de la Cerda – First woman to earn a doctorate in Spain, Philosopher
- Raimon PanikkarRaimon PanikkarRaimon Panikkar-Alemany was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a proponent of inter-religious dialogue. As a scholar, he specialized in comparative religion.-Early life and education:...
– Philosopher, Theologian, Scholar of Comparative Philosophy of Religion - Tomás de Villanueva – Roman Catholic Saint, Archbishop of ValenciaValencia (city in Spain)Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
, Theologian - Xavier Zubiri ApalateguiXavier ZubiriXavier Zubiri was a Spanish philosopher noted for his intellectual rigor. A major accomplishment of Zubiri's philosophy is its systematic development of a new conception of reality such that within it man, as a "sentient intelligence," appears in a different light...
– Philosopher, Philologist - María ZambranoMaría ZambranoMaría Zambrano Alarcón was a Spanish essayist and philosopher.Zambrano studied under and was influenced by José Ortega y Gasset and went on to teach Metaphysics at Madrid University from 1931 to 1936...
– Philosopher
History
- Ambrosio de Morales – Historian
- Francisco Giner de los RíosFrancisco Giner de los RíosFrancisco Giner de los Ríos was a philosopher, educator and one of the most influential Spanish intellectuals at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century....
– Historian - Juan de MarianaJuan de MarianaJuan de Mariana, also known as Father Mariana , was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs....
– Historian, Political Theorist - José Amador de los RíosJosé Amador de los RíosJosé Amador de los Ríos y Serrano was a Spanish intellectual, primarily a historian and archaeologist of art and literature. He was a graduate in history of the Complutense University of Madrid....
– Historian - Manuel Colmeiro Penido – Economist, Historian, Jurist
- Marcelino Menéndez y PelayoMarcelino Menéndez y PelayoMarcelino Menéndez y Pelayo was a Spanish scholar, historian and literary critic. Even though his main interest was the History of ideas, and Hispanic philology in general, he also cultivated poetry, translation and philosophy.He was born at Santander where he showed that he was an infant prodigy...
– Scholar/Historian - Ramón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez Pidal was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore and folk poetry. One of his main topics was the history and legend of The Cid....
– Historian
Medicine
- Carlos Jiménez DíazCarlos Jiménez DíazCarlos Jiménez Díaz was a Spanish physician....
– Medical Pioneer - Florestán Aguilar – Medical Pioneer
- Gregorio MarañónGregorio MarañónGregorio Marañón y Posadillo was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, they had four children ....
– Physician/Scientist/Historian/Writer/Philosopher - José RizalJosé RizalJosé Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
– Filipino polymath, polyglot, hero - Santiago Ramón y CajalSantiago Ramón y CajalSantiago Ramón y Cajal ForMemRS was a Spanish pathologist, histologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were original: he is considered by many to be the father of modern neuroscience...
– Nobel Prize in MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
(1906) - Severo OchoaSevero OchoaSevero Ochoa de Albornoz was a Spanish-American doctor and biochemist, and joint winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg.-Early life:...
– Nobel Prize in MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
(1959)
Maths and Sciences
- Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
– Doctor of ScienceDoctor of ScienceDoctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree Honoris Causa (first one he accepted from a European University) - Ángel Martín Municio – Chemist/Pharmacist/President of the Spanish Royal Academy of SciencesSpanish Royal Academy of SciencesThe Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847.-History:...
- Blas Cabrera y FelipeBlas Cabrera FelipeBlas Cabrera y Felipe was a Spanish physicist.-Biography:Cabrera received his baccalaureate in La Laguna . He then moved to Madrid where he began studying law, following family tradition. He met at that time Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who convinced him to abandon law and study science...
– Physicist/President of the Spanish Royal Academy of SciencesSpanish Royal Academy of SciencesThe Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847.-History:...
, member of the Solvay ConferenceSolvay ConferenceThe International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, located in Brussels, were founded by the Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay in 1912, following the historic invitation-only 1911 Conseil Solvay, the turning point in world physics... - Carlos Sánchez del Río – Physicist/President of the Spanish Royal Academy of SciencesSpanish Royal Academy of SciencesThe Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847.-History:...
- Enrique Moles Ormella – Physicist
- Federico Mayor Zaragoza – Pharmacist/Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999.
- Juan Manuel Rodríguez ParrondoJ. M. R. ParrondoJuan Manuel Rodríguez Parrondo is a Spanish physicist best known for the strikingly counterintuitive Parrondo's paradox, where switching between losing strategies can, in some cases, win on average. In 1996, he developed games of chance, now called Parrondo's games, that exhibited this apparently...
– Physicist - José CuatrecasasJosé CuatrecasasJosé Cuatrecasas was a botanist. He was born on March 19, 1903 in Camprodon, Catalonia, Spain.His research focused on the high-elevation páramo and sub-páramo regions of the Andes Mountains in South America, especially the flowering plant families Asteraceae and Malpighiaceae.In 1997, the...
– Botanist - José Rodríguez Carracido – Chemist/Pharmacist/Dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy/Rector of the Complutense University of Madrid /President of the Spanish Royal Academy of SciencesSpanish Royal Academy of SciencesThe Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847.-History:...
- Juan Luis ArsuagaJuan Luis ArsuagaJuan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras obtained a master degree and a doctorate in Biological Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he is professor in the Paleontology Department of the ....
– Biologist/Paleontologist - Julio Rey PastorJulio Rey PastorJulio Rey Pastor was a Spanish mathematician and historian of science.Rey Pastor earned his doctorate from Complutense University of Madrid in 1909, under supervision of Eduardo Torroja Caballé...
– Mathematician - Margarita SalasMargarita SalasMargarita Salas Falgueras, 1st Marquise of Canero , commonly known as Margarita Salas, is a well-known Spanish scientist in the fields of Biochemistry, and Molecular genetics....
– Scientist/President of the Instituto de España - Miguel Catalán Sañudo – Scientist
- Sixto Ríos – Mathematician/Statistician
- Jesús Huerta de SotoJesús Huerta de SotoJesús Huerta de Soto Ballester is a leading Austrian School economist and Professor of Political Economy at Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Spain. He received doctoral degrees in Law and Economic and Business Sciences , both from Complutense University of Madrid, and an MBA from Stanford...
– Economist, Law scholar
Film
- Alejandro AmenábarAlejandro AmenábarAlejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos is a Spanish- Chilean film director. Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile to a Spanish mother and Chilean father, but the family moved to Spain just one year after his birth...
– OscarAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning Filmmaker (did not graduate) - Luis BuñuelLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
– Surrealist Filmmaker - Santiago SeguraSantiago SeguraSantiago Segura Silva is a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.Santiago was born in the Carabanchel neighbourhood in Madrid. After studying Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, he decided to pursue a career as a film-maker and in 1989 he directed the short Relatos de...
– Actor, Filmmaker
Other
- Ángel Sanz BrizÁngel Sanz BrizÁngel Sanz Briz was a Spanish diplomat during World War II who helped save many Hungarian Jews from Nazi persecution.After studying law, his first diplomatic posting was to Cairo...
– Spanish diplomat credited with saving thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi persecution during World War II. - Chema MadozChema MadozJose Maria Rodriguez Madoz better known as Chema Madoz, is a Spanish photographer, best known for his black and white surrealist photographs.Chema Madoz studied Art History at Universidad Complutense de Madrid between 1980 and 1983...
– Photographer - Concepción ArenalConcepción ArenalConcepción Arenal was a Spanish feminist writer and activist.Born in Ferrol, Galicia, she excelled in literature and was the first woman to attend university in Spain...
– Spanish feminist writer and activist. - Emilio García GómezEmilio García GómezEmilio García Gómez, 1st Count of Alixares was a Spanish Arabist, literary historian and critic, whose talent as a poet enriched his many translations from Arabic.-Life:...
– International authority on ArabArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
culture. - Fernando Cordero CuevaFernando Cordero CuevaFernando Cordero Cueva is an Ecuadorian politician and architect. He is the former mayor of Cuenca, Ecuador, former Member of the Ecuadorian Congress and former President of the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly 2007. He is also publicly known as "Corcho" Cordero.Cordero was born 1952 in Cuenca the...
– EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian politician and architect - Hildegart Rodríguez CarballeiraHildegart Rodríguez CarballeiraHildegart Rodríguez Carballeira was an activist for socialism and sexual revolution, born and raised by her mother as a model for the woman of the future. She spoke 6 languages when eight years old, finished Law School at 17 and was a leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and afterward of...
– Girl genius of the 1920s and renowned Socialist activist and Sexual Reformer. - J.B.L. Reyes – FilipinoFilipino peopleThe Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
juristJuristA jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage... - Miguel Álvarez-FernándezMiguel Álvarez-FernándezMiguel Álvarez-Fernández is a sound artist, composer, theorist and curator based between Madrid and Berlin, where he has taught at the Electronic Music Studio of the Technical University of Berlin...
– Sound artist and theorist - Valentín García YebraValentín García YebraValentín García Yebra , was a Spanish philologist, translator and translation scholar.-Biography:...
, philologist and translation scholar.