Residencia de Estudiantes

The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence," is a one of the original Spanish cultural centers in Madrid, Spain. During the first half of the twentieth century, the Residence was a prestigious cultural institution that helped foster and create the intellectual environment of Spain's brightest young thinkers, writers, and artists.

Notable Guests

The Residence's influence was particularly strong from its foundation in 1910 until the outbreak of the Spanish civil war in 1936. During this time, many members of the Generation 98 and Generation 27 Spanish artists and writers visited, studied and lectured at the Residence, including Federico Garcia Lorca, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Rafael Alberti, Damaso Alonso, Luis Cernuda, Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado and Ramon del Valle Inclan, and other innovative thinkers such as Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

Spain's "Silver Age"

The first several decades in Spain are known as the Silver Age - a period of rich intellectual expansion of ideas, when words and images gained a new power of expression, both artistically and politically. The Residencia de Estudiantes was one of the most important institutions of the time because it allowed the great thinkers of the time to come together and fulfil their enlightened ideas. The intellectuals at the Residencia de Estudiantes also began an institution known as tertulias - groups of artists and writers who would gather together daily, during day or night, at cafes, bars and houses to discuss their ideas and opinions.

The Spanish Civil war indicated an end to this intellectual period because many artists and writers were exiled from the country, and censureship increased under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

External links

References

Morales, Manuel Delgado. "Introduction. " Bucknell Review (Bucknell Univ., Lewisburg, PA) (45:1) [2001:2] , p.13-18.
http://www.ucm.es/info/hcontemp/madrid/residencia%20estudiantes.htm