University of Valladolid
Encyclopedia
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
in the city of Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile-Leon, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The university currently has 31,780 undergraduate students and more than 2,000 teachers.
History
It was chartered by Clement VI in 1346 but claims continuity with the University of PalenciaUniversity of Palencia
The University of Palencia was founded by Alfonso VIII at the request of Bishop Tello Téllez de Meneses and was the first university of Spain. It was the model upon which was patterned the University of Salamanca....
, founded in 1212.
It has been an institution closely linked to the city since its foundation, influencing the city's development by the intense cultural and economic activity that it drove. From the beginning it was situated in the Colegiata, later passing to the current location of the Facultad de Derecho on the other side of the plaza.
Buildings
The first building of the University that is notable for its architecture is the one constructed at the end of the fifteenth century, after the move of the institution from the Colegiata and until its new location. It consists of a four sided cloister, which opens up the hallways, and a late Gothic chapel of a certain magnitude. At the cloister one enters through a portal, also late Gothic, that opens to the Bookshop Street. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, this became insufficient, prompting an enlargement consisting of a quadrangular cloister with four galleries that open to various hallways built at the same time. From the plaza de Santa María (today the University Square), one can see the interesting Baroque facade designed by the Carmelite Fray Pedro de la Visitación and constructed in 1715. There are distinct 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 fifteenth century that opened to Bookshop St., in order to construct a new building following an eclectic design by the architect Teodosio Torres. They would save only the Baroque facade though it appears that they also contemplated its destruction. Torres's design featured two cloisters. A stair case was situated between both cloisters and a great vestibule opened to Bookshop St. 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
Plateresque
Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" , was an artistic movement, especially architectural, traditionally held to be exclusive to Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in the late 15th century, and spread over the next two centuries...
, Baroque and Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
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. The project experienced problems as the Baroque facade was incorporated slowly. In 1939, the building suffered a fire. To alleviate the problem of the facade's integration into Torres's building, Constantino Candeira designed a great staircase and vestibule, in the historicist style, that was accessed through the Baroque facade. The staircase is an example of the triumphalist and historicist architecture of Postwar Spain. In 1968 the building was finished with the destruction of the second cloister and the construction of a five-floor building to house students, and the destruction of Torres's building which had been built for far fewer students. In this same reform, the observation tower and the great auditorium of 1909. The facade that faces Librería was remodeled, losing the vestigial historicism of Torres. The new auditorium flanks the facade of Fray Pedro on one of its sides.
The computer science department has gained notoriety by hosting the programming contests for the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
using online judging of the submitted programs.http://acm.uva.es/problemset/
Culture
Within the University there are cultural associations of all kinds music, theatre, student...There is a youth symphonic orchestra: the Joven Orquesta de la Universidad de Valladolid (Youth Orchestra of the University of Valladolid, JOUVa). It is formed and maintained largely by students of the University, and headquartered in the Residencia Universitaria Alfonso VIII of Valladolid. At present (2010), and since its founding in 1998 Francisco Lara Tejero
Francisco Lara
Francisco Lara Tejero is a Spanish composer and conductor of classical music.-Early life and education:Born in Valladolid, Spain, in 1968, Lara studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory where he graduated in 1990...
is the artistic and musical director.
In addition, it has also a choir, the Coro de la Universidad de Valladolid (Choir of the University of Valladolid) directed by Marcos Castán and the Early Music Group El Parnasso.
Although these formations have separate programs, they perform joint concerts for certain shows.
There is also a theater group: Gente de Teatro de la Uva founded in 1984 with the name of People's Theatre of the Faculty of Medicine, that from 1998 became the official theater group of the University. Its director at present (2010) is Carlos Burguillo.
Through the Area of Extension and Culture, the University presents cultural programs throughout the year, with special emphasis in UniversiJazz Festival and Santa Cruz.
Valladolid University also supports numerous cultural initiatives as those developed by the Hermandad Universitaria del Santo Cristo de la Luz, which included the Christmas and Auto Passion. It also assists in all the concerts that are organized through each and every Vice President for University Association and with a variety of public and private partnerships.