The Development of Education and Vocational Training Councilors, María del Carmen Castillo, and Culture and Sports Councilor, Patricia del Pozo, have inaugurated the exhibition space of the San Isidoro Secondary School in Seville, located in the old chapel of the educational center.
Castillo emphasized that this space is a «true treasure that we can enjoy thanks to the work of the teaching staff and the various management teams that have carried out their work at this center and have shown a commitment to education that goes beyond professional duty.» In this way, with this ‘museum,’ the history and culture of Seville are brought closer to society, especially to the students of the city.
The councilor informed that the center’s library has bibliographic resources consisting of more than 20,000 volumes and the number of cataloged titles in the so-called ‘ancient collection’ is over 2,500. It contains copies dating from 1515 to 1900 and constitutes a collection of old editions, facsimiles, manuscripts, and maps.
Notable editions of Don Quixote in tiny sizes and in different languages such as Chinese or Tamazight (a Berber variant) stand out. The oldest book is a comedy by Aristophanes, and there are also ballad books suitable for the pockets of minstrels.
Likewise, the councilor recalled that illustrious figures from the world of education, science, politics, and other cultural spheres of the country have passed through the classrooms of San Isidoro, such as Manuel Machado, Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero, Romero Murube, Luis Cernuda, Severo Ochoa, Manuel Losada Villasante, or Emilio Lledó, among others. The current Physics and Chemistry and Natural Sciences laboratories have equipment and instruments from their old laboratories and cabinets, objects from the Museum.
On the other hand, the Culture and Sports Councilor emphasized the importance of educational spaces like that of the San Isidoro High School to «preserve, conserve, and make known our history and heritage.» «Just as an educational law, approved by a Parliament, or the writings of an expert in pedagogy are historical sources, a school composition, a schedule, a textbook, a blackboard, a microscope, a test tube, or an abacus still speak to us today and allow us to firsthand understand the society of the past,» Del Pozo pointed out.
After naming some of the outstanding students who have passed through this Sevillian educational center over its 180 years of existence, Del Pozo emphasized that the «list of excellent students is far from closed, as the names of young students today, who are the present and future of Andalusia, are still missing.»