A little catch up time: This post will cover what we did on Wednesday, April 29. We met with the students bright and early on Wednesday to pass out their bus/train/subway cards and student ID's. We then went to Alcalingua where they had to take a "prueba de nivel" (translated as a placement test). After the test, Marta, one of the coordinators at Alcalingua, took us on a brief walking visit around Alcalá de Henares. Here are some pictures with captions:

Here we are outside the Iglesia Magistral in the Plaza de los santos ñinos, Justo y Pastor. These are young Hispano-Roman children who wanted to become Christians. This was during the reign of Diocleciano in the IV century. Instead, they were martyred on this spot by the Roman authorities.

We are walking down the calle Mayor with its covered walkways, below you will see that many of the columns that support this colonnade are recycled from older Roman buildings.

The two pictures above show one of the few remaining key holes. From the 15th century on the arrangement along the colonnade was to have the businesses on the ground floor and the merchant living on the floors above. The entrance to the residences were to the side of the businesses. If a person came to visit they would stand under the hole (that was in the residence's floor) and announce his or her intention. If it was friend the family would drop the key to the door through the hole where upon the visitor would open the door and return the key to its owner.  If it was an unwanted guest, the resident would pour cold water on their head if it were winter and hot water if it were summer. Other versions indicate that if it was someone very disagreeable the contents of the chamber pot would be showered on the unwanted, contemptible visitor!

Marta is explaining to the students the purpose of the plaza. The plaza was the center of social and commercial life in Alcalá de Henares. The space was divided between the rich (living to the left) and the poor (living to the right). The city's "Corral de comedias" (theater) was located on the poorer side of the plaza given its less-than-reputable status in Christian Spain. Note that the Universidad de Alcalá is located on the wealthier side of the city while the Judería and Muslim quarters were on the poorer side of town.

From here we went to meet up with another Marta (a Master's student in History at the University). She gave us an absolutely amazing and detailed description of the university's façade. Let me try to replicate some of those details:

The façade is divided into three levels: 1) above each window on the first level are representations of the church Fathers; 2) above the two windows on either side of the main entrance on the second level are Peter and Paul. The center image represents the Cardinal Cisneros with two soldiers standing guard and two giants supporting the outer two columns. These symbolize the power of the Church within the confines of the university and the significance that the Church plays in intellectual pursuits; 3) the top level has a representation of God the Father holding up the world in one hand. He governs all knowledge and truth. The ten windows on the upper story represent the 10 commandments.  Student who attended the university had to live very austere lives, following the precepts of Cisneros' Franciscan order. Students lived in small rooms with one chair, one table, and a small bed. They were given one candle a day that they used for studying.

This is the first of three patios. This is the patio del Colegio Mayor o de Santo Tomás de Villanueva. It was renovated in 1662 in the Herririano style. One of the salient decorations is that of the cisne (swan) and was a play on Cisneros' name (below).

In the second patio (above), known as the Patio de los Filósofos, you find two doors. After a student took his final exams for his degree there were results, pass or fail. If he passed, he was invited to exit through this gate that led to the Plaza del Mercado (Cervantes) where, at his expense, he would engage in a three-day celebration with the citizens of the city. If he failed, he would exit through a much smaller door just opposite this one that led to an alley where he would be scorned by his classmates and citizens of the city as a rebuke for denying them their "party."

This is the Patio Trilingüe with its "secular, pagan" fountain decorated with shells, the symbol of Venus.

This was just a brief summary of our day. We also visited the Paraninfo (a salon where students would be examined by their professors) and the Capilla de San Ildefonso (where the Cardinal Cisneros' empty crypt is located). The crypt is very elaborate and violated every desire that the Cardinal had that his remains rest under a simple stone slab. His request was satisfied when his remains were moved to the Iglesia Magisterial.