SCENES from the IBERIAN PENINSULA

Images and Notes from Portugal and Spain

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Salamanca Index

01a Salamanca: Streets and Buildings including the University and Escuelas Menories Courtyard

Salamanca is an important Spanish academic centre based around the University.

It has many fine buildings and courtyards of the various schools of learning. *

Rural scenery on the coach journey from Burgos to Salamanca, much irrigation needed.

? Church on entering Salamanca

The old defensive city walls and towers below the Cathedrals.

The 18th century Episcopal Palace (Bishop's Palace) near the cathedrals of Salamanca

Typical street scene in the university district of Salamanca

The University Faculty of ?

The statue of Padre Tomas Camara dedicated to a former Bishop of Salamanca in the Plaza, noted for his social action in the construction of hospitals and church restoration.

A typical street scene in Salamanca

Salamanca University, the facade of the original main building

The University of Salamanca was founded in 1134 and in 1218 it was given the royal charter of foundation ("Estudio General") by Alfonso IX of León. It was the first university to receive the title of "University" in 1254. Under the patronage of the learned Alfonso X, its wealth and reputation greatly increased (1252–1282), and its schools of canon law and civil law attracted students even from the Universities of Paris and Bologna. In the 16th century, the city's fortunes depended on those of the University. About the time Christopher Columbus was lecturing there on his discoveries, Hernán Cortés took classes at Salamanca, but returned home in 1501 at age 17, without completing his course of study. (About ten years later the conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was born in Salamanca.)

traditional street musicians by the University

Information on Salamanca University from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Salamanca

The University of Salamanca (Spanish: Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and one of the oldest in the world in continuous operation.

Prior to the foundation of the university, Salamanca was home to a cathedral school, known to have been in existence by 1130. The university was founded as a studium generale by the Leonese King Alfonso IX in 1218 as the scholas Salamanticae, with the actual creation of the university (or the transformation of the existing school into the university) occurring between August 1218 and the following winter.[1] A further royal charter from King Alfonso X, dated 8 May 1254, established rules for the organisation and financial endowment of the university, and referred to it for the first time by that name.[9] A papal bull of Alexander IV in 1255 confirmed the Royal Charter of Alfonso X and granted universal recognition to the university's degrees. [Salamanca University]

The historical phrases Quod natura non dat, Salmantica non praestat (what nature does not give, Salamanca does not lend, in Latin) and Multos et doctissimos Salmantica habet (many and very versed Salamanca has) give an idea of the prestige the institution rapidly acquired. [Salamanca University]

In the reign of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, the Spanish government was revamped. Contemporary with the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims, and the conquest of Granada, there was a certain professionalization of the apparatus of the state. This involved the massive employment of "letrados", i.e., bureaucrats and lawyers, who were "licenciados" (university graduates), particularly, of Salamanca, and the newly founded University of Alcalá. These men staffed the various councils of state, including, eventually, the Consejo de Indias and Casa de Contratacion, the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the Spanish Empire in the New World.

While Columbus was lobbying the King and Queen for a contract to seek out a western route to the Indies, he made his case to a council of geographers at the University of Salamanca. While the geographers were sceptical of Columbus and his voyage calculations, the University of Salamanca always defended the theory of unknown territories to the west, and supported Columbus' voyage, believing that new territories may be discovered. In the next century, the morality and laws of colonization in the Indies were debated by the School of Salamanca, along with the development of the study of science, geography and cartography of the Americas, and as well as the study of general subjects of economics, philosophy and theology.

Like Oxford and Cambridge, Salamanca had a number of colleges (Colegios Mayores). These were founded as charitable institutions to enable poor scholars to attend the university. By the eighteenth century they had become closed corporations controlled by the families of their founders, and dominated the university between them. Most were destroyed by Napoleon's troops. Today some have been turned into faculty buildings while others survive as halls of residence.

In the 19th century, the Spanish government dissolved the university's faculties of canon law and theology. They were later re-established in the 1940s as part of the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

Salamanca draws undergraduate and graduate students from across Spain and the world; it is the top-ranked university in Spain based on the number of students coming from other regions. [Salamanca University] It is also known for its Spanish courses for non-native speakers, which attract more than two thousand foreign students each year. [Salamanca University]

Today, the University of Salamanca is an important center for the study of humanities and is particularly noted for its language studies, as well as in laws and economics. Scientific research is carried out in the university and research centers associated with it, such as at the Centro de Investigación del Cáncer [Cancer Research Centre],  Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León or INCyL [Institute of Neuroscience of Castile and León], [Salamanca University] Centro de Láseres Pulsados Ultracortos Ultraintensos [Ultrashort Ultraintense Pulse Lasers Centre]. It is one of only two Hispanophone universities in the world that have a MoU with the United Nations to train language professionals for the organization. [Salamanca University] In conjunction with the University of Cambridge, the University of Salamanca co-founded the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) in 1989.

In 2018, the institution celebrated its eighth centennial. [Salamanca University]

The relief-carved medallion of Ferdinand II and Isabella I on the facade of the University entrance in Salamanca.

 The medallion is at the centre of the elaborately carved renaissance facade of the Escuelas Mayores at the heart of the University of Salamanca.

The inscription in Greek around the edge of the medallion reads "kings to the university, and the university of kings".
 

Greek and Latin inscription on the facade.

Statue to Fray Luis de León a noted lyrical Spanish poet of the 16th century, a former student of Salamanca University, he was also a Augustinian friar, theologian and academic, active during the Spanish Golden Age.

The splendid Escuelas Menories Courtyard, School Courtyard of the University

The Moorish arches and Christian architectural influences in the University Courtyard of Salamanca

Salamanca Index

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Salamanca Index

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