The City Council of València commemorates today 11 February the foundation of the first Universitat Popular de València, in February 1903. The event will take place at the Paranimf of the Universitat de València, in the Cultural Centre La Nau, at 19:00 and it will be chaired by the Major of Valencia, Joan Ribó, and by the Principal of the Universitat de València, Esteban Morcillo. Maria Ángeles Durán Heras will give the lecture ‘La neutralidad de la ciencia’.
Durán Heras was the first woman who got a Sociology chair in Spain, ‘Honorary Doctor’ from the Universitat de València and National Research Prize.
‘La neutralidad de la ciencia’ is the title that Gumersindo de Azcárate, jurist, republican deputy, chair of the Central University, president of the Free Educational Institution, chose for the inaugural lecture of the Universidad Popular.
The founding values of the first Universidad Popular, set up by Vicente Blasco Ibañez, are linked to the Free Educational Institution, laicism, the ideal of an educated and critical society, freedom of thought and academic freedom, social inclusion and solidarity.
On 8 February, 1903 the inaugural lecture of the Universitat Popular de València was held. The event was held in the ‘Fusión Republicana’ centre, a no longer existing building in the Libreros street, opposite to the Palace of Marqués de Dos Aguas.
Press from all over the country covered it as an historic ceremony attended by 2,000 people and guarded by the city horse guard, according to the newspaper ‘El Pueblo’. In València, at that time, there was more than a 70% of illiteracy and there was around 1,400 students enrolled at the Universitat de València.
Last update: 11 de february de 2016 09:00.
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