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Institut d'Estudis Catalans


The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan pronunciation: [instiˈtud dəsˈtuðis kətəˈɫans], English: "Institute for Catalan Studies"), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture".

The IEC is known principally for its work in standardizing the Catalan language. The Institute's current president is Salvador Giner, elected to the office for four years in June 2005, and to a second term in 2009. The IEC is based in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and the second largest city in Spain.

Enric Prat de la Riba, who was to become the first President of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, signed the founding document of the Institute, as president of the Barcelona County Council on June 17, 1907. The IEC is one of a number of cultural and scientific institutions created at that time to lend greater prestige to the Catalan language and culture; others include the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Library of Catalonia), the Escola Industrial (Industrial School), the Escola Superior de Belles Arts (Higher School of Fine Arts) and the Escola del Treball (School of Labour), el Centre de Recerca Matemàtica. Prat de la Riba also founded the Escola de l'Administració Local (School of Local Administration), in order to create a body of Catalan civil servants for the regional government.

The IEC was admitted to the Union Académique Internationale in 1922, shortly after the establishment of the latter.

During the dictatorship of Franco, along with many other Catalan cultural institutions, the Institut lived a semiclandestine existence, and was not officially restored to its previous status in the field of language standardisation until a 1991 bill was passed by the (also restored) Catalan Parliament.


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