Publication: La Casa de Velázquez de Madrid (1916-1959): Un ejemplo de destrucción patrimonial en la Guerra Civil española
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2017-08-08
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Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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La Casa de Velázquez de Madrid es una institución francesa dedicada al intercambio cultural entre Francia y España. Fue proyectada y creada por altas instancias de la cultura francesa —académicos, profesores universitarios y altos funcionarios— en el primer tercio del siglo XX con el objetivo de estrechar lazos culturales y diplomáticos que beneficiaran a ambas naciones. Su ubicación en la Ciudad Universitaria se debió a una donación gratuita y libre de cargas fiscales de un terreno de labranza que pertenecía a la Corona real situado en La Moncloa. La cesión fue realiza por el entonces rey Alfonso XIII, el mayor y mejor mecenas español de esta institución. El edificio se creó para ser residencia de estudiantes franceses que vinieran a España a realizar una estancia en nuestro país para completar sus estudios de arte (pintura, escultura, arquitectura, grabado, música, etc.) o humanidades (historia, filología, arqueología, numismática, etc.) en la cultura española. De ahí su nombre tan español, elegido por su primer director y uno de sus impulsores: el catedrático de Arqueología e Historia del Arte de la Facultad de Letras de la Universidad de Burdeos Pierre Paris. Se inauguró en el 20 de noviembre de 1928 con grandes expectativas puestas en su futuro y con gran pompa y boato; pero apenas hubo tiempo para que las promesas depositadas en ella se pudieran hacer realidad, pues ocho años después yacía en su emplazamiento totalmente derruida. Como decía la inscripción de la medalla acuñada por Mariano Benlliure para la ocasión de este estreno inaugural: Ninguna fuerza puede disolver el amor al arte (Artis amore junctam nulla vis solvet). Fue una profecía cumplida al revés, pues sí que hubo una fuerza ciclónica que pudo disolver, vencer y hasta destruir por completo el fruto de este amor: la Guerra Civil española. Nada hacía suponer que el ejército de Franco intentaría tomar la capital de España, después de su sublevación en julio de 1936, por la recién estrenada Ciudad Universitaria. Fue una argucia bien tramada por los generales de Franco: fijar al enemigo al sur de Madrid, haciéndole creer que el asalto se perpetraría por ahí, para acometerlo, en realidad, por el oeste. Nada hacía suponer que el caótico Madrid del día del asalto podría parar el empuje fascista y que, por tanto, el golpe de estado al Gobierno de la República desembocaría en una guerra fratricida de casi tres años de duración...
Casa de Velázquez in Madrid is a French institution whose object is to promote the cultural exchange between France and Spain. It was designed and created by prominent figures of the French cultural circles - academics, university professors and officials - during the first third of the twentieth century, with the aim of strengthening the cultural and diplomatic links that would benefit both nations. Its location, in the Ciudad Universitaria (the University area), is a result of a tax burden-free donation of a farming field in La Moncloa that belonged to the royal Crown. The transfer was carried out by king Alfonso XIII, the greatest and best Spanish benefactor of this institution. The building was designed as a residence for French students that came to Spain to finalize their Art (painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, music, etc.) and Humanities (history, philology, archeology, numismatics, etc.) studies in the Spanish culture. Hence its very Spanish name, which was chosen by its first director and one of its promoters: Pierre Paris, professor of Archeology and Art History at the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Bordeaux. It was inaugurated on the 20th of November, 1928, with great pomp and circumstance, and with great expectations regarding its future; but there was barely any time for the promises placed among it to become true, as only 8 years after its opening it laid completely destroyed, in its same location. An inscription in the medal coined by Mariano Benlliure for the inaugurational opening stated: No force can dissolve the love of Art (Artis amore junctam nulla vis solvet). This was a prophecy of which the opposite became true, as there was in fact a cyclonic force that managed to dissolve, defeat and completely destroy the product of that love: the Spanish Civil War. Nothing predicted that Franco's army would try to seize the Spanish capital, after his sublevation in July 1936, and that he would do so through the recently inaugurated Ciudad Universitaria. It was a well planned ploy prepared by Franco's generals: to keep the enemy in the south of Madrid, making them believe that the attack would come from there, but attacking instead from the west. Nothing predicted that the city of Madrid, immersed in the chaos during the day of the attack, would manage to stop the fascist force, turning the coup against the Republican Government into a fratricidal war that would last almost three years...
Casa de Velázquez in Madrid is a French institution whose object is to promote the cultural exchange between France and Spain. It was designed and created by prominent figures of the French cultural circles - academics, university professors and officials - during the first third of the twentieth century, with the aim of strengthening the cultural and diplomatic links that would benefit both nations. Its location, in the Ciudad Universitaria (the University area), is a result of a tax burden-free donation of a farming field in La Moncloa that belonged to the royal Crown. The transfer was carried out by king Alfonso XIII, the greatest and best Spanish benefactor of this institution. The building was designed as a residence for French students that came to Spain to finalize their Art (painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, music, etc.) and Humanities (history, philology, archeology, numismatics, etc.) studies in the Spanish culture. Hence its very Spanish name, which was chosen by its first director and one of its promoters: Pierre Paris, professor of Archeology and Art History at the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Bordeaux. It was inaugurated on the 20th of November, 1928, with great pomp and circumstance, and with great expectations regarding its future; but there was barely any time for the promises placed among it to become true, as only 8 years after its opening it laid completely destroyed, in its same location. An inscription in the medal coined by Mariano Benlliure for the inaugurational opening stated: No force can dissolve the love of Art (Artis amore junctam nulla vis solvet). This was a prophecy of which the opposite became true, as there was in fact a cyclonic force that managed to dissolve, defeat and completely destroy the product of that love: the Spanish Civil War. Nothing predicted that Franco's army would try to seize the Spanish capital, after his sublevation in July 1936, and that he would do so through the recently inaugurated Ciudad Universitaria. It was a well planned ploy prepared by Franco's generals: to keep the enemy in the south of Madrid, making them believe that the attack would come from there, but attacking instead from the west. Nothing predicted that the city of Madrid, immersed in the chaos during the day of the attack, would manage to stop the fascist force, turning the coup against the Republican Government into a fratricidal war that would last almost three years...
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Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación, leída el 17-11-2016