Residencia de estudiantes

The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. As well as being accommodation for students such as Salvador Dali, the Residence was established as a cultural institution that helped foster and create the intellectual environment of Spain's brightest young thinkers, writers, and artists.

It was one of the most vibrant and successful experiences of scientific and artistic creation and exchange of interwar Europe. Its activities were curtailed by the Spanish Civil War and the academic policies of the Franco regime. Efforts have been made a reinvigorate the institution. In 2015, the Residencia de Estudiantes was awarded the European Union’s European Heritage Label due to the significant role it has played in the history and culture of Europe.

The Residencia de Estudiantes was founded in Madrid in 1910 by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios. It became the first cultural center of Spain and until 1936 the Residencia remained a vibrant, fruitful hub for scientific and artistic work and exchange in Europe.

In 1915, it was moved to its permanent site, the Hill of Poplars. Its director, Alberto Jiménez Fraud, ran the Residencia as a meeting place open to creativity, intellectual and interdisciplinary dialogue. The Residencia and the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios were the product of the innovative ideas generated by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, founded by Francisco Giner de los Ríos in 1876.

The mission of the Residencia was to complement university education by fostering an exciting intellectual and living environment for its students. It strongly encouraged the constant dialogue between Science and the Arts, welcomed the avant-garde ideas from abroad, and became the focal point for spreading modernity in Spain.

Some of its residents were among the leading figures of Spanish culture in the twentieth century, such as the poet Federico García Lorca, the painter Salvador Dalí, the film maker Luis Buñuel, and the Nobel Prize winner, scientist Severo Ochoa.

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