Arcadia, Camilo José Cela University’s Open Culture Classroom, has launched the second part of its programme with a new academic proposal focused on History, Literature and Art. The inaugural session took place at UCJC’s Castellana Campus and included a welcome address by the Rector, Jaime Olmedo.
The new edition of Arcadia will run from September 2026 to January 2027 and maintains the vocation with which the project was created: to bring the humanities closer to people of all ages and backgrounds, through an in-person, participatory format open to lifelong learning. The programme combines classes, meetings and cultural activities at the Castellana Campus, in the heart of Madrid.
During the presentation, Olmedo highlighted the value of initiatives of this kind within the university’s mission to promote knowledge beyond conventional academic pathways.
“It is a deep satisfaction for me to inaugurate this new series of Arcadia, to do so thanks to the support of the Ibercaja Foundation, which is now celebrating its 150th anniversary, and to welcome Alfredo Alvar to this university, which is also his home,” said the Rector, welcoming Alfredo Alvar, research professor at the Spanish National Research Council —CSIC—, specialist in the modern history of Spain, particularly the Spanish Golden Age and humanism, and a leading expert on the history of Madrid as city and court.
“Alfredo Alvar is a person who represents very well what we want to do with Arcadia: to tell the history of Spain, universal history, literature and art in a way that is enjoyable, engaging and intelligent,” said Olmedo, who also described Alvar as “the greatest living Cervantes scholar in terms of knowledge of the figure himself and, moreover, an outstanding communicator of the history of Spain, especially of the Spanish Golden Age”.
A programme covering literature, history and art
The programme is structured around four main modules: History of Spain, Spanish Literature, Universal History and History of Art. Participants may enrol in full programmes or in specific subjects and, upon completion, will receive a certificate issued by UCJC recognising their participation.
The first session of this new stage was devoted to “Spain under the Philips and the 17th century”, delivered by Alfredo Alvar, CSIC researcher and academic of the Royal Academy of History. It will mark the starting point of the History of Spain II module, focused on the Modern and Contemporary periods.
Over the coming months, Arcadia will feature specialists from universities and institutions including the CSIC, the Royal Academy of History, Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Alcalá, King’s College London, the Prado Museum and Patrimonio Nacional, as well as lecturers from Camilo José Cela University itself.
Topics to be addressed include Habsburg Spain, Cervantes, the crisis of 1898, the Spanish Civil War, the 1978 Constitution, Realism and Naturalism, the Generations of ’98 and ’27, the French Revolution, Napoleon, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the origins of Neoclassicism, Goya, Picasso and the latest trends in museums and collections.
