Salamanca: Europe’s 3rd university

The university at Salamanca is one of those institutions so ancient that it has been hugely influential to the discourse not only of the city but also of Spanish education since its founding. Borrowing and reapplying Sir Walter Scott’s poetic description of Durham city, the city of Salamanca is also ‘half church of God’ with its cathedrals and churches and their gothic towers and pinnacles dominating the Salmantine skyline, but the other half – and just as old as the former – is dedication towards scholarship; the University of Salamanca being the first in the Spanish kingdom. Today the university guides some 30,000 students towards enlightenment with around 50 departments and offering all the traditional courses.

A definitive founding of the university is still yet to be uncovered. We are told by historians that learning and teaching at Salamanca was present in 1134 at the Cathedral school – and it is out of this sort of beginning that many of those ancient universities were created. Nevertheless, Royal Charter was not granted until 1218 by Alfonso IX making the University of Salamanca the first in the Spanish kingdom and the third oldest European university which continues to exist after the universities at Bologna, Italy and Oxford, United Kingdom. In the centuries following its founding, the university, and thus the city, grew and gained considerable reputation so much so that before he went on his ground breaking expedition, Christopher Columbus paid a visit to the university where the feasibility of his voyage was discussed with various influential scholars.

Unsurprisingly, the university of the 13^th century is very different to the university today. The increasing popularisation of university education has demanded vast growth from universities across the world and Salamanca has not been reluctant to grow. As part of a series of expansions made just 2 centuries after the granting of the Royal Charter, the Escuelas Mayores was built. This intricate and ornate facade until today remains that highly recognisable image of the university. Huge growth in terms of students, however, means that those ancient edifices, which although still belong to the university, no longer house lectures and seminars to keen pupils.

Amongst that vast list of former students are the likes of Hernán Cortés, Calderón de la Barca and Cardinal Mazarino (Prime minister to Louis XIV) and plenty more who have risen to positions of great influence post-studying at Salamanca. Such is the reputation of the university that attracts students both from within and without Spain apply to study at the University of Salamanca.