A major feature of the MA program is the use made of local resources to complement the classroom learning experience. An integral part of the core ”Cultural History of Spain and Latin America” course, these study visits and special activities give students a unique opportunity to live and appreciate Spanish culture in situ.

In recent years students on the program have enjoyed:

• A one-day study trip to Toledo, seat of the famous School of Translators founded by King Alfonso X el Sabio, and a unique scenario in which to evaluate the legacy of the “three cultures” of medieval Spain, with its great Gothic cathedral, two synagogues  (one housing the Sephardic Museum) and mosque.

• A three-day study trip to Andalusia in the fallgives us the opportunity to see the Mezquita in Córdoba and the palace and gardens of the Alhambra in Granada, the two finest surviving examples of Moorish architecture in Spain. Visits to these major sites are combined with guided tours of the Jewish quarter in Córdoba and the Albaicín in Granada, as well as a visit to the Huerta de San Vicente, the charming summer home of Federico García Lorca, Spain’s most famous poet.

• In the spring, a three study trip to the Bilbao and San Sebastián, focuses on contemporary politics and culture in the Basque Country. Through lectures on nationalism and the Basque language, and meetings with representatives of different political parties and tendencies, we try to get to the roots of the national conflict still raging in the region. We also two major contemporary art museums, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the magical Chillida-Leku outside San Sebastián. A meal in a traditional Basque sidrería is the culinary highlight of the trip, and some say of the program!

• A one day study trip to El Escorial and El Valle de los Caídos. Built by Phillip II, the monastery, palace and mausoleum of El Escorial is one of most impressive manifestations of the power of Crown and Church in Imperial Spain. It was no coincidence that four centuries later dictator Francisco Franco chose to raise his own monument and mausoleum to the Nationalist dead in the Civil War just down the road, as in all its fascist glory El Valle de los Caídos  evokes the power of Church and State in Francoist Spain.

• A lecture and lunch at the Residencia de Estudiantes, one of Spain’s leading cultural institutions, famously home in the 1920s to the creative geniuses of Frederico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel.

• On-site classes in the Museum of the Americas, with its unique collection of art and artefacts from across the Americas, and the Reina Sofia Museum, Spain’s leading modern and contemporary art museum.

• A visit to the Teatro Clásico Nacional to see a production of Golden Age theater by one of Spain’s most established companies.