The Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria San Isidro (IES San Isidro) is a co-educational day school for pupils from 12 to 18 years of age. It is located in the historical
Calle de Toledo in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
,
Spain
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.
It is one of 66 secondary schools established in provincial capitals and other major cities under the 1836 Plan General de Instrucción Pública. Most of these schools occupied the premises of disentailed convents and other church buildings. Originally a boys' school, it became coeducational and state-owned in the second half of the 20th century. The school occupies part of a site belonging to several earlier schools, indirectly tracing its origins to 1346, and is considered the oldest non-university education center in Spain.
San Isidro has educated eight
Spanish prime ministers and was formerly referred to as the "nanny" of Spain's statesmen.
With the
discovery of the Americas, the school gained importance in educating young men who would later become a credit to the
Spanish Empire. It has four Nobel Prize laureates among its alumni:
José Echegaray,
Jacinto Benavente,
Vicente Aleixandre, and
Camilo José Cela.
[
]
Heritage
The school occupies part of the site
originally belonging to several former education centers, including
the Reales Estudios de San Isidro (1625–1809), formally known as the Colegio Imperial (–1625).
It was built on land donated by Empress Maria of Austria.
The current building includes the baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires includi ...
cloister (1672), a baroque staircase and an elegant chapel (1723). On the stairs is a small museum dedicated to science and education.
From 1847 to 1936, Madrid's School of Architecture (Escuela Especial de Arquitectura, now Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid
The Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid ( es, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, ETSAM) is the school of architecture of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Spain. It trains future architects and grants the ...
, ETSAM) occupied part of the premises of the Institute, together with the secondary school and other schools and departments.[ In 1936, it moved to its current site at Ciudad Universitaria.][, José Manuel (in Spanish)]
''Aprendiendo a ser arquitectos: Creación y desarrollo de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid (1844-1914)'', pp. 201-4. Editorial CSIC - CSIC Press, 2004.
Google Books. Retrieved 21 January 2019. The School of Architecture's coat of arms remain over the main entrance to the Institute.[
The school has a museum on the ground floor with a recreation of a school class and four floors of various interests.
]
Notable alumni
The former pupils of San Isidro are known as "Old Franciscans".
The school has educated a wide range of notable figures including four Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
laureates[ and eight Spanish prime ministers.][, Leonor; ''El Instituto San Isidro: Saber y Patrimonio, Apuntes para una Historia'' (2014).]
See also
* List of the oldest schools in the world
* Colegiata de San Isidro
* Colegio Imperial de Madrid
* List of Jesuit sites
References
Bibliography
*, Javier; , Francisco José
"La conformación del Colegio Imperial de Madrid (1560-1767)."
''Anales del Instituto de Estudios Madrileños'', LIII, pp. 135–175. Madrid, 2013
*, Vicente, ''El Instituto San Isidro: Saber y Patrimonio, Apuntes para una Historia'' (Madrid, Editorial CSIC, 2013, )
*, José Simón, ''Historia del Colegio Imperial de Madrid: Volúmenes I y II'' (Madrid, Instituto de Estudios Madrileños, 1959, )
External links
*
Madrid Oculto – Short documentary of San Isidro
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Isidro
Schools in Spain
Secondary schools in the Community of Madrid
Schools in Madrid
Educational institutions established in the 14th century