Folleto Edificio Paraninfo (english)

English

Paraninfo

Zaragoza University, successor to the General Study institution, was established through a foundation privilege granted by the Emperor Charles I in 1542, with classes beginning in 1583. Its first location - constructed between 1589 and 1598, was next to the Magdalena church and had a cloistered structure, with a central patio around which its rooms were arranged. The space was shared by the Sciences, Law and Philosophy and Arts faculties, while Medicine was located in a modest building next to the Provincial Hospital (currently the Nuestra Señora de Gracia).

The Magdalena building was militarized by General Palafox in December 1808 and suffered serious damage following shelling in February 1809 - three days prior to Zaragoza surrendering following its second siege - though some of the artistic works in the building had been burnt by the students in March 1808. Amongst the works saved is the spectacular Portrait of Emperor Charles V, attributed to Bartolomé Vicente and painted for sure between 1675 and 1680 which dominated the Paraninfo. It is currently to be found in the main lecture hall in the Law Faculty.

The Old University Building (Detail) Photo: Coyne

In 1813, with part of the building still in ruins and its walls badly damaged, the University reopened. Over the course of that century various repairs and renovations took place - the most important of them in 1846-1850, which gave the building a new main façade topped with a curved pediment, and in 1876, during which plaster busts of famous people, portraits of outstanding figures who had done credit to the University and two allegorical figures representing the Sciences and the Arts were placed in the main auditorium. The pulpit professorial chair, made from walnut, was decorated with a golden bee, symbolizing intelligent and ordered industry and productive diligence. In 1884, the library was moved to the old chapel and in 1893 Medicine and Sciences were relocated to the new Faculty, erected outside the city walls.

In 1900, municipal architect Ricardo Magdalena Tabuenca planned new building works that meant, among other matters, transforming the façade - executed by Luis de la Figuera in 1912. In 1968, following the removal of the remaining studies to the San Francisco campus, the building was demolished except for the chapel which survived on its own until 1972. Pedro de Luna secondary school was built on the site.

The new Paraninfo Construction of the current Paraninfo building was ordered during the rule of María Cristina by Royal Decree on 20 March 1886 and defrayed by the State, with some contribution from the Regional Council and Zaragoza Council. The project was conceived by Ricardo Magdalena (18491910) who defined it as a Palace of Science and Knowledge; the first stone (from the founding building) was laid in 1887 and inauguration took place on 18 October 1893 as the Home of the Faculties of Medicine and the Sciences - with the aim of housing these studies.

This was the first monumental building for civil use erected outside the city’s mediaeval wall. It was built on an area of land called Campo hondo de Lezcano, opposite the Santa Engracia gate and next to the Huerva River. Its construction was a tide of renewal, modernity and progress at a time when Zaragoza was beginning a process of industrialization that had its own magnificent representation in the Spanish-French Exhibition of 1908 - one of whose main architects was Basilio Paraíso, to whose memory the square where the building is located was dedicated.

The building was the object of refurbishment in 1917-1918, 1932-1934, during the Civil War and in 1941-1943. The need for more space, lecturers and researchers, lead to the Faculty of Sciences moving to the San Francisco campus in the 1960s and Medicine moving in the 1970s. The building closed and in 1983, four years after being declared a National Monument (now a Cultural Heritage Site) and motivated by the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the University opening, it was reopened following partial restoration. On 29 April 1988 a chance fire occurred and this fact, together with the state in which the building was left, made complete restoration necessary. This was executed within the 2006-2012 Infrastructures Plan, developed

by Zaragoza University and the Aragonese Government. The work, which respected the original materials used, was undertaken between May 2006 and May 2008, based on the project drafted by architects Luis Franco Lahoz and Mariano Pemán Gavín.

Reinaugurated on 31 May by their royal majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, this building, which is the oldest remaining and most emblematic of the University, has gone on to serve new functions: institutional - as the home of the Vice-Chancellor, government bodies and highly formal acts; popularization of science - as a place to hold conferences and congresses; cultural awareness - with a wide range of activities (exhibitions, films, concerts, etc.) open to everybody; and as the custodian of the Documentary and Bibliographic Heritage of the University.

Faculty of Medicine and Science (Detail) Photo: Coyne

The original site: The Paraninfo in Magdalena Square

The building The Medicine and Sciences Faculty building is part of a series drafted by architect Ricardo Magdalena which included a Teaching Hospital (base since 1974 of the Economic and Business Sciences Faculty, later called Economics and Business) and a dissection room (now disappeared), added to in 1908 with the “Bastero Lerga” Anatomical-Forensic Institute building (originally the judicial mortuary and now the Municipal Crèche).

All of these were in the same location, isolated from the city by iron railings within which the “Bastero” Toxicological Garden (for teaching and medical purposes) was also to be found. Aside from Magdalena (who took on the design of many furnishing elements and decorative details) a great team of professionals, artisans and artists were involved in the construction, including sculptors Jaime Lluch and Dionisio Lasuén and metalsmith Martín Rizo and local companies such as Averly, in charge of the foundry casting, and Quintana, responsible for the glazing.

Conceived with great elegance, the building evokes Aragonese renaissance palace architecture and its original structure has remained intact.

This consisted of a square floor around an open patio, surrounded by cloisters; as a novelty, the architect added some exedras, which were meant to house the professorial chairs (classrooms), which produced an interplay of volumes that enlivened and enriched the whole and gave it a certain personality. Its walls, articulated through a harmonious sequence of semi-circular openings, are crowned by typically Aragonese arcade balconies covered by carved wooden overhanging eaves. Carved, accentuated and chamfered with brick; application of polychromatic tiled friezes from Pickman of Seville; and terracotta or plaster ornamentation in the spandrels: these combine to make up the decoration of the walls.

In terms of height, the stand outs are the main entrance block, the four corners conceived in the style of towers, and the central area of the rear wall, where the Faculty of Sciences astronomy and meteorology observatory is located.

To accomplish all this, diverse low-cost materials were used, with the presence of thin, pressed honey-coloured stretcher brick while stone has been used for the plinths (sandstone from Tafalla) and the portal (white stone from Fonz). Use has also been made of masonry for the chamfering with brick in the basements, wood for the frameworks and smelted iron for metallic structures such as the ringed columns - with the monogram consisting of an interlinked “M” (Medicine) and “C” (Sciences) - present in many of the spaces.

Stylistically, this could fit in with the eclectic-historicism movement which dominated European architecture at the time; the combination of diverse elements and styles can be appreciated, all of which are closely connected to regional artwork: Romanesque, Mudéjar, Renaissance, etc. as well as some new ideas provided by Modernism.

One of the most distinguishing and singular features of the building is the main doorway, replete with images alluding to its functions. Preceded by a stone stairway, its lower section evokes a triumphal arch. It has a small tympanum where, amongst plant ornamentation, a head with helmet can be seen representing Minerva (Roman Goddess of Wisdom); above which lies a Spanish coat of arms, crowned and flanked by the Pillars of Hercules, and in the spandrels there are medallions with reliefs of busts, allegories and numbers referring to Medicine and the Sciences.

The most striking and singular feature (and certainly imitating the façade of the Madrid National Library of 1866) is the inclusion of four life-size statues in an academic style in white stone from Fonz (Huesca) which represent the illustrious Aragonese figures Andrés Piquer, Miguel Servet and Ignacio Jordán de Asso and Fausto de Elhuyar from La Rioja - the first two for Medicine and the latter two for the Sciences. The central figures were sculpted by Dionisio Lasuén, from La Muela (Zaragoza), and the outer figures by Jaime Lluch from Barcelona. The three great doors - the central one being more developed - have jambs made of walnut and pine and their semicircular arches are closed with iron girders with a floral theme.

Spread among the remaining façades are over a hundred medallions containing a rich and studied iconographic series which has its continuity inside in the form of busts in relief of illustrious personalities (both local and foreign) from Medicine and the Sciences, as well as attributes and allegories for both disciplines.

Ground floor Originally, this first floor contained the rooms for 100 and 150 students where theory was taught: Medicine to the east (giving onto the Huerva riverbank, now Gran Vía) and the Sciences to the west (Camino de los Cubos, now Doctor Cerrada). In the northwest corner of the building lies the Natural History Museum and in the southwest the Chemistry office and general laboratory. Symmetrically, in the northeast corner lies the Therapeutics laboratory and the Histology office and laboratory and in the southeast the Legal and Physiology Medicine laboratories. Opposite the main entrance, in the centre of the rear wall lay the largest of the seven professorial chairs in the building - that of Medicine.

Currently in the vestibule, in addition to the Gerónimo Borao (former staffroom) reception room, concierge, bookshop and two entrances to the basement, the visitor can find several commemorative plaques, amongst which are the one remembering the students of the Valencia University Battalion who fought in Zaragoza during the War of Independence and the one commemorating the reinauguration on 31 May 2008 by their royal majesties of the building following its restoration.

Since 1984, the General University Library has been in the northeast corner. It contains volumes of great historical, codicological and bibliographical value, amongst which can be found 420 manuscripts, 406 incunabula and 29,582 printed documents from the 16th to the 18th centuries, in addition to the Historical Archive, where documents of interest that no longer are of administrative value are housed.

In the right wing is the entrance to the home of the Zaragoza Royal Academy of Medicine - the one for Sciences was in the building from 1916 to 1972 - with its library and meeting room, as well as the Francisco de Goya and Antonio Saura temporary exhibition rooms, and multi-purpose rooms, such as the Joaquín Costa and the Pilar Sinués.

In the vestibule and preceded by an lofty archway lies the start of an enormous marble stairway (imperial style) which leads to the first floor. On the landing overseeing all of this and before a glazed window stands the notable effigy in marble of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, student and professor at this University and Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1906, wearing his toga and holding a book against his left leg. It is the work of the renowned Valencian sculptor Mariano Benlliure, one of the most important artists of the time, who was charged in 1922 with paying homage to the retiring professor in effigy. It was inaugurated in the presence of King Alfonso XIII in 1925. Flanking the statue and chamfered, there are two venerated niches housing statues, in stone from Fonz, of Archimedes and Hippocrates, to represent Medicine and the Sciences, which are the work of Dionisio Lausén and Jaime Lluch, respectively.

The iconographic programme is completed in the upper section with a series of curved mouldings containing reliefs of illustrious doctors and scientists and an inscription in classical Latin alluding to the functions of the building which says: To encourage the study of Medicine, look in depth into Mother Nature’s secrets and reveal the mechanical arts.

First floor This floor contained the deaneries and the library for the two faculties, the assembly hall (currently the Paraninfo room) and the conference and projection room (Main Lecture Theatre), in addition to the Sciences and Anatomy Museums, laboratories and offices for experimentation (linked to the rooms on the first floor).

Following restoration, it now contains reception and multi-purpose rooms, such as the Josefa Amar y Borbón, the Trece Heroínas and the Amparo Poch, others for institutional purpose, such as the Pedro Cerbuna - which until 1942 contained the Library and is now the Government Cabinet meeting place - and the Martina Bescós, as well as the offices of the vice-chancellor and the vicerectors and the Secretariat of the Board.

Spread around these rooms, works of diverse nature and chronology can be found that belong to the University’s historical-artistic heritage, among which stand out the magnificent collection of tapestries from the 16th and 17th centuries (produced in the Flemish workshops of Brussels and Audenarde), and some works from the Prado National Museum, such as the canvases entitled The Sacrifices of Mosaic Law and The Triumph of the Eucharist over Idolatry, by David Teniers III from 1673.

Among the older emblematic objects preserved in these rooms is a satirical poster with the announcement of University classes for 1588-1589 and a gold-plated silver mace (ordered by vicechancellor Pedro Torrellas in 1588) which is carried by the porter who precedes him in formal acts.

In the corridors that run around the outside of the floor, there is an incomplete gallery of portraits of the vice-chancellors, of unequalled workmanship - some painted by notable Aragonese artists.

The series began with Ramón de Pignatelli, who ran the University on several occasions between 1762 and 1793.

From this floor, one can access the rooms of the Board of Trustees, which exhibits a collection of paintings and silk screen prints by contemporary Aragonese artists, and the University Ombudsman as well as small meeting rooms in the tower.

The Paraninfo room This space which was initially the assembly hall for the two faculties almost immediately became the site for the most formal ceremonies at the institution (inaugural lectures, celebration of Saint Braulio [patron saint of the University], investiture of honoris causa doctors, etc.) and acts of special relevance.

This room is entered through magnificent doors, whose jambs of pine and walnut contain a decoration inspired by the Mudéjar hexagonal ribbon above which lies a plaster decoration featuring the head of Minerva in the keystone and, in the spandrels, allegories of Science and Medicine on lit night-lights.

When designing the interior of this space, Ricardo Magdalena clearly bore in mind the original Paraninfo from Magdalena Square and he bestowed a historicist air on it that was predominantly classical but peppered with details combined from other styles. It is a large room in a rectangular floor with a high ceiling consisting of a depressed bevelled vault with ribbed dividers. The walls are articulated through two degrees of arcs and, in the lunettes, decoration featuring angels and medallions. At the foot lies a choir stall and at the head is an ample dais in whose centre is the presidium table, behind which is a square cloth embroidered with the University seal. Saint Peter, the first pope (as the University has Pontifical among its titles), seated in the professorial chair with keys in one hand and the patriarchal cross in the other, surrounded by the coats of arms of the provinces which, until 1983, belonged to the university district.

The remainder of the decoration is arranged with similar sumptuousness to that in the original Paraninfo, with curved mouldings in the upper section of the walls containing plaster relief portraits of doctors and scientists between those of Saint Isadora and Alfonso X the Wise, representative of universal and multi-faceted Culture in the History of Spain; portraits of Eugenio Montero Ríos and Segismundo Moret y Prendergast (this latter the work of José Gonzálvez), ministers of Public Works during the construction of the building; that of the Kings of Spain (Prado National Museum repository) Sisenando, Pedro I and Enrique IV (the first of these by Bernardino Montañés); and some splendid stained glass at the head (ordered from the M. Degrand firm in Bordeaux) containing the allegories for Medicine and Science in the form of two seated midwives with their respective attributes and the Latin motto Scientia et labore veritas (Truth through Science and Work) surrounded by the quarters of Castile and Leon from the Spanish coat of arms.

Among the many ornamental and symbolic details the following stand out: the bas-relief of the lectern representing Saint Braulio, patron saint of the University; the golden bee of the pulpit or professorial seat - the place reserved for masterclasses - is a reminder of the one that was present in the original Paraninfo; commemorative plaques for the order to construct the building (1886) and the laying of the first stone (1887); and the lateral and lintel stained glass (by the Quintana firm from Zaragoza), which repeats the plant motif (probably laurel) locked inside an octagon present in other openings in the building, certainly alluding to the medicinal applications of Botany.

Between 1953 and 1955, this room was refurbished and given 252 beech seats with velvet covers, 74 armchairs for the senate dais and a table and armchairs for the presidium.

The Main Lecture Theatre

Information

Called originally the “conference and projection room”, this is one of the most attractive spaces in the building due to its semi-circular structure with two amphitheatres and its meticulous classicistic decoration. It can hold 300 people and has magnificent, studied acoustics; it was a teaching room and, following its restoration, it is the location for national and international scientific meetings and for other popular scientific and cultural activities.

One of the main functions currently performed by the building is as the site of scientific meetings (symposiums, seminars, congresses, etc.), presentations and all sorts of acts related to knowledge, innovation and development. Its strategic location in the heart of the city, excellent transport connections and the human, logistical and technological resources available, including a caférestaurant, make it a privileged location for all these activities.

One of the most illustrious visitors to the building was Albert Einstein. On 12 and 13 March 1923, some months after obtaining the Nobel Prize and during a visit to Spain that also took him to Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo, he gave two conferences in the “assembly room” on the theory of relativity and the structure of space.

Vice-chancellor Ricardo Royo Villanova ordered the writings of the learned German on the blackboard to be preserved and saved; sadly this scientific “relic” has not survived to this time.

Select bibliography

Other rooms: basement, patio and tower Until its move to a new building in the Sitios Square, from 1895 to 1909 the basement was the home of the Zaragoza School of Arts and Crafts - which Ricardo Magdalena both taught in and ran. Other institutions also used it as a temporary base, among them the Explorers of Spain and ATADES, and it provisionally housed the Radio Zaragoza studios; and finally, up to the restoration of 2006-2008, it was home to laboratories and the Carbon-Chemical Institute (CSIC). Currently, its spaces house temporary exhibitions, the permanent exhibition of the collections of Natural Sciences from the University (and, in particular, the “Longinos Navás” collection, stored by the Jesuits, which was on display for several years on the ground floor of the building) and the repository for the General University Library, among other functions.

The inner patio, which the generously glazed cloistered corridors open out onto, has also been fully restored and has become a small paved public square which has artificial lighting. It is now used for the holding of some acts.

The so-called tower - which housed the Astronomy and Meteorology Observatory from 1855 is at present a double terrace, linked by a magnificent spiral staircase made from smelted iron, which from its privileged viewpoint offers wonderful views of the building itself and the urban environment and many of the monumental landmarks in the city.

To find out more about the building

FATÁS CABEZA, Guillermo, El Edificio Paraninfo de la Universidad de Zaragoza. Historia y significado iconográfico, Zaragoza, Universidad de Zaragoza, 1993 (2ª ed. 2001).

VV.AA., Exposición Centenario del Paraninfo (1893-1993), Zaragoza, Universidad de Zaragoza, 1993.

© Text: Juan Carlos Lozano and Antonio Peiró © Photographs: Gonzalo Bullón; Virginia Martínez Giménez, Image and Communication Office, University of Zaragoza; Carlos Urzainqui, Scientific Documentation Centre, University of Zaragoza

Plaza Basilio ParaĂ­so, 4 50005 Zaragoza (Spain) Tel. No. (34) 976 761994 Fax (34) 976 761856 paranin@unizar.es www.unizar.es

Vicerrectorado de Cultura y PolĂ­tica Social