Residencia de Estudiantes

Some of its residents were among the leading figures of Spanish culture in the twentieth century, such as the poet Federico García Lorca, the painter Salvador Dalí, the film maker Luis Buñuel, and the Nobel Prize winner, scientist Severo Ochoa.

Many prominent figures came to the Residencia for that purpose, people such as Albert Einstein,[1] Paul Valéry, Howard Carter,[2] Marie Curie, Igor Stravinsky, John M. Keynes, Alexander Calder, Walter Gropius, Henri Bergson and Le Corbusier.

These personalities were often invited by two private associations, the Sociedad de Cursos y Conferencias and the Comité Hispano-inglés, which worked closely with the Residencia and served as link to a broader sector of society.

During this time, many Spanish artists and writers, members of the Generation of '98 and Generation of '27, visited, studied and lectured at the Residence, including Federico García Lorca, Luis Buñuel, Juan Cazador, Salvador Dalí, José Ortega y Gasset, Rafael Alberti, Dámaso Alonso, Luis Cernuda, Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado and Ramón del Valle-Inclán, and other innovative thinkers such as Albert Einstein, Howard Carter, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Paul Valéry, Marie Curie, Igor Stravinski, Paul Claudel, Louis de Broglie, Herbert George Wells, Max Jacob, Le Corbusier, John Maynard Keynes, etc.

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.

All throughout the year, the Residencia organizes numerous public events with the participation of leading figures in the Arts and Sciences, such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Pierre Boulez, Martinus Veltman, Ramón Margalef, Jacques Derrida, Blanca Varela and Massimo Cacciari, among others.

Conferences, workshops, round-table discussions, concerts, poetry readings, exhibitions, etc., make the Residencia a place for open debate, critical thinking and creativity, centered on the trends of our times.

The Centro de Documentación (library and archives) holds a unique collection of documents and books, with especial emphasis on the intellectual and scientific history of Spain during the first third of the twentieth century.

These documents include the private archives of Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Jesús del Bal y Gay, Fernando de los Ríos and León Sánchez Cuesta.