Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares, a city with 195.000 inhabitants and only 25 km away from Madrid, offers visitors with a wonderful urban area, considered World Heritage in 1998 by UNESCO. The historic relevance of Alcalá in Spanish culture is very remarkable, not only because it is the birthplace of Cervantes’ birthplace, but also because of the University; a prestigious institution with more than 500 years of history.

The importance of the university

The University of Alcalá, officially founded by the Cardenal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros in 1499, became the centre of humanism during Spanish Renaissance (16th Century). Some buildings, such as the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso –considered an architectural gem of Spanish Renaissance and can be traced back to that period. The faculties of Derecho (Law), Filosofía y Letras (Arts and Philosophy) and Economía (Economics) are all buildings of great artistic and historic value in the City Centre. The same could be said of the Antiguo Colegio de los Irlandeses (Irish College), the building now turned into the Centro de Español para Extranjeros (Alcalingua), which dates from XVII Century and has been restored for foreign students who wish to learn Spanish.

Nowadays, about 25,000 students come to Alcalá to study from all regions of Spain and from all over the World.

Environment

The City Centre is also the shopping area with plenty of stores, cafes, restaurants. Another peculiarity of Alcalá is the youthful atmosphere, especially noticeably in weekends when students and young people in general go out.

All this, together with its proximity to Madrid, the capital and political, economic and cultural centre of Spain, make Alcalá an exceptional place to live and study.