The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, visited the Colegio de España in Paris this Wednesday on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its founding, according to a press release from the Ministry.
“It is a privilege to have this space in Paris,” the Minister declared during the visit. “Those of us who know the Colegio de España know that it is a flagship of our cultural and scientific projection abroad,” he added.
Albares also expressed his hope that the Colegio de España will continue to play a role of dialogue and understanding with other nations, “the spirit with which it was created during the interwar period, just like the Cité Universitaire where it is located,” the Ministry continued.
In this regard, Albares recalled the Colegio’s “close connection” with the history of democracy in Spain and the need to care for and protect it as a center of thought and culture, but also “as the extraordinary representation of Spain that it is.”
The Colegio de España
Founded in April 1935, the Colegio de España is an institution dependent on the General Secretariat of Universities of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities of Spain. Its function is to disseminate Spanish science, art, and culture and promote international exchanges. It is also a residence for students, artists, and researchers.
Its foundation was an extension abroad of the work of the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios and the Residencia de Estudiantes de Madrid, and diplomats such as Ambassador Quiñones de León and, later, with the arrival of the Republic, Salvador de Madariaga, played a significant role in it.
The Colegio has welcomed many intellectuals exiled after the Civil War, such as Pío Baroja, Severo Ochoa, and Xavier Zubiri. It was closed during the German occupation of Paris and reopened in 1945. After the events of May 1968 and the student occupation, the Franco government closed its doors.
Under democracy, Minister José María Maravall revived the project and reopened the center on June 17, 1987, at an inauguration presided over by the King and Queen of Spain and the then President of France, François Mitterrand. Since then, the school has continued its work uninterruptedly to this day. In 1995, it received the Plaque of Honor of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.