Institute of Valencia de Don Juan
| Institute of Valencia de Don Juan | |
|---|---|
| Native name Instituto Valencia de Don Juan (Spanish) | |
 | |
| Location | Madrid, Spain |
| Coordinates | 40°26′0″N 3°41′25″W / 40.43333°N 3.69028°W |
| Official name | Instituto Valencia de Don Juan |
| Type | Non-movable |
| Criteria | Monument |
| Designated | 1981 |
| Reference no. | RI-51-0004497 |
  Location of Institute of Valencia de Don Juan in Spain | |
The Institute Valencia of Don Juan (Spanish: Instituto Valencia de Don Juan) is a museum, library and research centre in Madrid, Spain, dedicated to the study of Spanish history, art, and material culture. It was founded in 1916 by diplomat and archaeologist Guillermo de Osma and his wife Adelaida Crooke y Guzmán, to preserve their art collections and promote scholarly study. The building, known as the Palacio de Osma, was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1981.[1]
Museum
In 1916 Guillermo de Osma y Scull, a diplomat and archaeologist, and his wife, Adelaida Crooke y Guzmán (24th Countess de Valencia de Don Juan),[2] founded the Valencia de Don Juan Institute to preserve and expand the decorative art collections they had assembled or inherited, throughout their lives, as well as promote Spain's foreign relations in the field of archaeology.[3][4][5]
On 15 March 1916 a notary formally established the Institute; the Board of Trustees included Prime minister Antonio Maura, scholar Miguel Asín Palacios, Spanish peer Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, American philanthropist and scholar Archer Milton Huntington and British archaeologist Sir Charles Hercules Read.[2]
The Institute is located in the couple's mansion, the Palacio de Osma, a Site of cultural interest since 1981.[3] The mansion is a Neo-Mudéjar building which was designed by Enrique Fort y Guyenet in 1886, and its exterior walls include azulejo tiles made by Daniel Zuloaga.[1]
The Institute has 710 medieval documents (dated between 875 and 1500) in its archives, as well as art history collections in its library.[3] One collection contains 40,000 documents, dating to as early as the Catholic Monarchs era, with a particular emphasis on the reign of Philip II.[1] The Institute also houses one of the world's most important collections of Andalusian art.[6]
In 1920, de Osma endowed the University of Oxford with £2,110 to establish the De Osma Studentship, a scholarship for the study of Spanish at the Institute.[7]
Legacy
Mery Jiménez Heredia of Revista COSAS Perú called the Valencia de Don Juan Institute "one of the most important private foundations of decorative-industrial arts in Spain".[6] According to the Instituto Cervantes in London: "Osma's legacy [...] remains active in his eagerness to break stereotypes and promote ties between Oxford and Spain."[8]
References
- ^ a b c "Portada del Archivo Histórico Nacional". censoarchivos.mcu.es (in Spanish). 28 February 2003. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
- ^ a b Pérez de Arcos, Marina (13 January 2021). "Individual, Institution, and Impact: The Untold History of the de Osma Studentship in Spanish Studies at Oxford". Hispanic Research Journal. 21 (3): 277–279. doi:10.1080/14682737.2020.1874721. ISSN 1468-2737.
- ^ a b c "Visita a Biblioteca" (PDF). sedic.es. 21 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
- ^ Salvador Benítez, Antonia; Sánchez Vigil, Juan Miguel (October–December 2020). "Adela Crooke en dos versiones: De la pintura a la fotografía y viceversa". Archivo Español de Arte (in Spanish). XCIII (372): 391–408. doi:10.3989/aearte.2020.26.
- ^ "Un centro de estudios dedicado a la investigación de la historia, el arte y la cultura de España". Instituto Valencia de Don Juan. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
- ^ a b Heredia, Mery Jimenez (7 October 2025). "El Museo Pedro de Osma firma convenio con el Instituto Valencia de Don Juan". COSAS.PE (in Spanish).
- ^ Oxford University Calendar. University of Oxford. 1930. p. 141. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
- ^ "UK celebrates the life and work of Osma, the first Spaniard to graduate from Oxford". Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Londres Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Londres (in Spanish). 7 February 2020.
