Caracas State University

The State University of Caracas, which is the main higher educational institution of Venezuela, was founded in 1725, but received worldwide fame and status of a recognized masterpiece of urban art after a large-scale reconstruction, which took place in the middle of the XX century under the leadership of the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raul Villanueva.

The territory of the university is an architectural ensemble of several dozen heterogeneous buildings – a masterful combination of concrete forms and an unexpected design. Under the leadership of Villanueva, a sports arena (stadion) with stands for thirty thousand spectators, “Big Audience”, “Covered Square” and other buildings are built on the territory of the university, distinguished by the courage and artistic expressiveness of constructive systems (concrete frames and vaults-shells), dynamic expression of composition, extensive use of sculpture, painting and mosaics.

In 2000, 25 years after Villanueva’s death, the first “university city” was recognized as the pinnacle of modern architecture and urban planning and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.