Universitat de Barcelona,Catalunya, Spain
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manchanegra
N 41° 23.185 E 002° 09.834
31T E 430094 N 4581991
The University of Barcelona (Catalan: Universitat de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain.
Waymark Code: WMBYC4
Location: Cataluña, Spain
Date Posted: 07/04/2011
Views: 16
With 75 undergraduate programs, 353 graduate programs and 96 doctorate programs to over 63,700 students, UB is considered to be the best University in Spain by the 2010 QS World University Rankings.
The University was founded under the royal prerogative granted by Alfonso V of Aragon, in Naples, on 3 November 1450.
For a number of reasons, in particular the civil war that raged during the reign of Juan II and the subsequent conflicts involving the peasant farmers, the official Estudi General of Barcelona did not begin to develop until the reign of Fernando the Catholic; but it was under Charles I, in 1536, that the foundation stone was laid for the new university building at the top end of La Rambla. From that moment on the university began to carry out its work as normal despite financial difficulties and in-fighting between university teachers, though this was not to stop some illustrious professors from making their mark in their respective fields and creating their own schools of academic followers.
The University of Barcelona was closed by the Bourbon dynasty after the War of the Spanish Succession from 1714 until 1837. The university was restored to Barcelona during the liberal revolution during the reign of Isabel II. In 1837, the University of Cervera was transferred to Barcelona, the capital of the principality. From that moment forth it was recognized as the cultural home of the four Catalan provinces.
On its return the University was housed initially in the Convent of Carme, which had been disestablished a few years earlier. Here the Faculties of Canon Law, Law and Theology were provisionally installed. The Faculty of Medicine took up residence in the Royal Academy of Medicine, next door to the Hospital of Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Thus, all the Faculties were now located in just two streets - carrer Hospital and carrer del Carme.
The inadequate nature of these premises soon gave rise to the need to construct a larger home for the University, and in 1863 work began on Elies Rogent's splendid new building, though it would not be fully completed until 1882. Its construction was to have major repercussions for the city, since it was one of the first buildings to be raised outside the ancient city walls.
Work on the building lasted for more than twenty years, although by 1871 the first lectures were being given there. The clock and the iron bell housed in the tower in the Pati de Lletres— the "Patio of the Arts"— were installed in 1881. Complementing the building work, sculptures and paintings were commissioned either directly from artists of repute or awarded in open competition.
The architectural work and the quality of the building's works of art meant that the historic building was declared a national monument of historic and artistic interest in 1970.
Today the University of Barcelona comprises 100 departments grouped in 18 faculties and two university schools, one school and eight attached schools.
Source: Wikipedia
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