University of Valladolid

University of Valladolid

Universidad de Valladolid
Seal of the University of Valladolid
Motto	Sapientia Aedificavit Sibi Domvm (Latin)
Motto in English	Knowledge built its house
Type	Public
Established	c. 1290
Rector	Daniel Miguel San José
Students	31,780
Address	Plaza de Sta. Cruz, nº 8 47002. Valladolid, Valladolid, Palencia, Soria and Segovia, Spain
Website	www.uva.es

The University of Valladolid is a public university in the city of Valladolid, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile and Leon, Spain. Established in the 13th century, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. The university has 32,000 undergraduate students and more than 2,000 teachers.

The University of Valladolid (UVa) is a Spanish public university founded in 1241 as removal of studies at the University of Palencia, founded by Alfonso VIII of Castile, between 1208 and 1212. It is responsible for teaching higher education in seven campuses distributed through four cities of Castile and Leon: Valladolid, Palencia, Soria and Segovia.

The first building of the university that is notable for its architecture is the one constructed at the end of the 15th century, after the move of the institution from the Colegiata. It consists of a four sided cloister, which opens up the hallways, and a late Gothic chapel. At the cloister one enters through a portal, also late Gothic, that opens to the Bookshop Street. At the beginning of the 18th century, this became insufficient, prompting an enlargement consisting of a quadrangular cloister with four galleries that open to hallways built at the same time.

From the Plaza de Santa María (today the University Square), one can see the Baroque facade designed by the Carmelite Fray Pedro de la Visitación and constructed in 1715. There are sculptural groups that represent allegories of the subjects that are taught in the building. The central section, organized into four columns of giants, is finished off by a giant ornamental comb.

In 1909, and with great controversy, it was decided to destroy the old building, including the entrance hall from the 15th century that opened to Bookshop Street, in order to construct a new building following a design by the architect Teodosio Torres. The Baroque facade was kept.

Torres's design featured two cloisters. A staircase was situated between both cloisters and a great vestibule opened to Bookshop Street. The facade of the university building to this street was based on a reinterpretation of the Baroque facade of Fray Pedro, with a mixture of Plateresque, Baroque and Neoclassical decorative elements. At one side of the facade was an observation tower and on the other was a new clock tower that filled the corner between the University Sq. and Bookshop St.