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Introduction - University of Madrid
The Universidad Complutense de Madrid was founded in Alcalá de Henares by Cardinal Cisneros through a Papal Bull conceded by Pope Alejandro VI in 1499. Nevertheless, its real origin goes back to the 20th May 1293 when King Sancho IV of Castille created the Studio of General Schools of Alcalá which two centurias later would become the Universidad Complutense de Cisneros. By 1510 the school included five faculties: Arts and Philosophy, Theology, Canonical Law, Literature and Medicine.
The university was transferred to Madrid in 1836 under the reign of Isabel II, whereby it was renamed the Universidad Central. In 1927 the construction of a university campus was planned in the Moncloa area on lands donated by King Alfonso XIII. During this time the nucleus of the so-called Silver age of Spanish culture became established. Luminaries such as José Ortega y Gasset, Manuel García Morente, Luis Jiménez de Asúa, Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Blas Cabrera taught at the university.
The Spanish Civil War turned the University City into a battlefront resulting in the destruction of faculty buildings and institutes as well as the loss of a significant part of the university’s rich scientific, artistic and bibliographical heritage. A number of prestigious staff was also lost.
In 1970 the government initiated reforms in higher level education and the Universidad Central was renamed Complutense, thus recovering its original title. During this time the university also added the Somosaguas campus to its body in order to house the Social Sciences faculty and take some of the pressure off the main Moncloa campus.
The Faculty of Fine Arts itself is the historical heir to the school that was incorporated into the Real Academia de Nobles Artes de San Fernando in the middle of the 18th century.
Throughout its history it has had different names and statuses although it has always held to the values of the classic Academy. In 1970, with its definitive incorporation into the Universidad Complutense as a faculty, it underwent a renovation and updating of its pedagogical and technical potential.
The faculty focuses its teaching programme on classic arts subjects such as Drawing, Painting, Sculpture and Engraving as well as Image and Design and the techniques of Restoration in Painting and Sculpture.
At present, with its more than 2,000 students and 190 teaching staff it is one of the most modern European centres of art.
Goya, Picasso and Dalí have all been students in this faculty and Vázquez Díaz, Chicharro, the Madrazos and Antonio López have also formed part of the centre.
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