Traveling through Spain. Alcala de Henares

Today we will make a truly fabulous journey to a small Spanish town, which gave the world led by the likes of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of the novel “The Clever Hidalgo Don Quixote Lamanche”, the author of the book recognized as the best novel in world literature by the jury members of the 100 best writers of 54 countries. The great F.M. Dostoevsky said about this novel that "at the Last Judgment people will be able to justify themselves before the Lord God by presenting this book alone." Another equally great Russian writer I.S. Turgenev praised this novel as follows: “When such people as Don Quixote are translated, let the book of history close forever: there will be nothing to read in it.”

So I invite you to Alcala de Henares, where Cervantes was born and raised, where the first Spanish grammar appeared, where one of the oldest universities in Europe is located, the city where all the storks of Europe flock. It is one of the cities of Spain, along with Toledo, which UNESCO declared a heritage of mankind in 1998. The first people appeared in this area during the Neolithic, then the Celt tribes lived here, and in the I century BC, the Romans founded the city of Compluti here, from which the affectionately diminutive name of Alcala - Complutence comes. It was in Alcala that the then unknown navigator Christopher Columbus first met with Queen Isabella of Castile, who gave money for his voyage. Since 711, the area came under the rule of the Arabs, who built a fortress on a high hill just away from the Roman settlement, called "alcalat", which means "castle", "fortress", but since there are many towns containing the name "alcalat" in Spain, de Henares ("Henares" - the name of the river flowing nearby) are added to the name. In 1118, the city was recaptured from the Arabs by the troops of the Archbishop of Toledo. Alcala is not only a historical and cultural gem in the crown of Spain, Alcala is a student city like Oxford or Cambridge in England. On May 20, 1293, King Sancho IV of Castile signed a decree opening the city of Estudios Generales. These "general sciences" served as the foundation of the future university, founded in 1496 (according to other sources in 1499). Among the students and teachers of the university there were such celebrities as Antonio de Nebrija, the author of the first Spanish grammar, other prominent personalities of the Golden Age: Quevedo, Calderon de la Barca, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molino, San Juan de la Cruz. There are currently 22,700 hours of study at the university. The university includes 10 faculties, language centers, a hospital and a botanical garden. This ancient university has established the highest award, the medal "Cisneros" (named after the founder of the university), an honorary diploma and a silver plate. This award is given to statesmen who have made a great contribution to the development of education, in particular, this honor was awarded to King Juan Carlos I of Spain, Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annap. No other university in the world has received such attention from the world organization UNESCO, which included Alcala de Henares and the university in the World Heritage List.