Highlights of Salamanca: University of Salamanca (Part 1)

Greetings,

In this post, I will be starting a new series of photos from the city of Salamanca, Spain.  The University of Salamanca is an amazing and historic site that one must see within this city.  A website from Salamanca describes the history of the University this way:

"The University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain; founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX, it was acknowledged in 1254 by Pope Alexander IV as being one of the four great Universities in the world, along with the universities of Oxford, Paris and Bologna. It has had many distinguished professors throughout its history, including Luis de León, Beatriz de Galindo, Melchor Cano, Francisco de Vitoria and Miguel de Unamuno and many well known citizens have walked along the University’s corridors, like Miguel de Cervantes, Hernando Cortes and Christopher Columbus.


It was in 1254 that the King granted the University the privileges that are its Magna Carta, appointing curators, placing it under the authority of the bishop, the dean and the chancellor, exempting it from the regular authorities and assigning salaries for the professors. The academic titles were presented in the name of the Pope and King in the cathedral until 1830. While the number of students reached 6.778 in 1584, in 1822 it had only 412 students and later this figure dropped even lower.


During the medieval and modern periods, the University was financed through royal and papal concessions. With this income (and other complementary income) five official faculties could be financed; Canon Law, Law, Theology, Medicine and Arts-Philosophy as well as complementary teaching in Humanities, Languages, Mathematics and Music. After the Law of Public Instruction in 1857 (Moyano Law), the faculties of the University were reduced to Law, Philosophy and Arts, and Theology, which was finally eliminated in 1868. The local government and Town Council of Salamanca financed, as independent faculties, Medicine and Sciences in the years 1869 – 1904, the year in which state financing was obtained under the Rectorship of Miguel de Unamuno. Later on this changed again and from then on the University was financed through registration and academic fees as well as by what was allocated in the State Budget.


Today the University has Colleges of Law, Liberal Arts, Science and Medicine and of course Spanish Language Courses. It has a student population of more than 30.000 students per year who participate in the more than 250 different programme offered."
(http://www.salamanca-university.org/Salamanca-University.htm)

Please enjoy the photos below.