Ávila, a city on the Route of the Castilian Language
The Foundation Camino de la Lengua Castellana (“The Route of the Castilian Language”) was created on February 22nd, 2000 in order to promote this cultural route. The Route passes through the places where the Spanish language was born, places that were witnesses to its growth and study, as well as to the emergence of its grammar. It is in these places where the literary creation was enhanced and they contributed to the expansion of Spanish so that millions of people share it all over the world.
The itinerary starts at the Monastery of Yuso and Suso, in San Millán de la Cogolla (La Rioja). It is where the first words in Spanish were written. Of course, it passes through Ávila, a place where the great figures of the Spanish literature and mysticism, Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross, were born. Saint Teresa of Jesus was proclaimed the patron saint of the Spanish writers and Saint John of the Cross, the patron saint of the poets who write in Spanish.
The pleasure to learn Spanish in Ávila
Those who come to Ávila, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, are immersed into Spanish. If you also accept Unamuno´s invitation to go for a walk in its calm and peaceful squares, where centuries of daily brief moments have slipped away, squares that are opened within an eternal Castilian city, you can enjoy culture. If you want, you can become a character of a wonderful piece of literary work or, maybe, you can converse intimately with the masters of mysticism, Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross or with other literary figures who enjoyed Ávila ´s hospitality, such as the enlightened José Somoza or Gaspar de Melchor de Jovellanos, the Romantic Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, the modernists Rubén Darío, and Gabriela Mistral and Miguel de Unamuno and Pío Baroja, both pertaining to the “ninety-eight” generation. All of them, together with other important writers, are protagonists of the “ten literary routes of Ávila”.
Ávila adds its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 to the oldest honorific titles (of the King, the Loyalists and the Knights). In Ávila culture springs up from its identity, which is able to join incomparably creativity, cosmopolitism, knowledge and quiet abstraction. Therefore, Ávila masterfully carves the perpetual and not less generous stones, as well as the vivid word, which shapes the spirit of the language, words and communication.
Finally, learning Spanish in Ávila turns into a beautiful and comforting experience. Its squares and streets and, above all, its people become the alma mater of those who want to be part of the great family of Spanish speakers or simply want to enrich their knowledge mastering a universal language, the mother tongue of four hundred and seventy million people.
Welcome to Ávila, welcome to the Spanish language, welcome to Alma Máter Ávila, School of Languages and Knowledge.