Since its foundation in 1910, the Residencia de Estudiantes hall was the first cultural centre in Spain and one of the most lively and fruitful hotbeds of creativity and scientific and artistic exchange in Europe during the interwar years.
Located at the Chamartin district, it is a place where many of the Spanish 20th century renowned culture figures resided as students - including the poet Federico García Lorca, the painter Salvador Dalí, the filmmaker Luis Buñuel and the scientist Severo Ochoa. It was frequented, as visitors or residents while they were in Madrid, by figures like Miguel de Unamuno, Alfonso Reyes, Manuel de Falla, Juan Ramón Jiménez, José Ortega y Gasset, Pedro Salinas, Blas Cabrera, Eugenio d’Ors, Rafael Alberti, and many more.
The Residencia de Estudiantes hall is one of the oldest cultural centres in Madrid. Today it holds numerous public events featuring personalities from arts and sciences such as conferences, panel discussions, concerts, poetry readings, conferences and exhibitions. This makes the Residencia a place open to debate, creation and critical thinking about the trends of our time.
Furthermore, a unique set of bibliographic and documentary archives can be consulted at the Documentation Centre, specialised in intellectual history and the contemporary sciences, mainly from the first third of the century. The private archives of Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Jesús Bal y Gay, Fernando de los Ríos or León Sánchez Cuesta stand out, as well as those of institutions like the Council for Further Studies or the National Pedagogical Museum.
As a curiosity, a room of the Pabellones Gemelos can be visited in which a historic room of the Residence has been created, exhibiting decor that is reminiscent of the rooms in which these illustrious writers, scientists and artists stayed. The elements that are used as furniture belong to the patrimony of the Residence and the Free Teaching Institute. Others have been reproduced for the occasion.
Staying in a building with history
The Residencia de Estudiantes hall continues offering accommodation to researchers, artists and creators from diverse fields and origins, who usually stay there for periods of less than a week. To do so, it has 90 rooms and offers cafeteria and restaurant services, which are open to residents and the general public.
For bookings, phone 91 561 32 00 or send an e-mail to: reservas@residencia.csic.es.
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