| Royal Academy of History | |
| Location: | Madrid, Spain |
| Coordinates: | |
| Spanish Property of Cultural Interest | |
| Official name: Real Academia de la Historia | |
| Type: | Non-movable |
| Criteria: | Monument |
| Designated: | 1945[1] |
| Reference #: | RI-51-0001170 |
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Location of Royal Academy of History in Spain
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Real Academia de la Historia (in English: Royal Academy of History) is a Spanish institution based in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of civilisation, and of the culture of the Spanish people".
The Academy was established in 1738. Since 1836 it has occupied an 18th-century building designed by the neoclassical architect Juan de Villanueva. Some Spanish historians consider it an obsolete misogynist institution, without any authority, and that still considers history as a matter of kings and battles.[2][3]
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In 2011 the Academy published the first volumes of a dictionary of national biography, the Diccionario Biográfico Español, to which some five thousand historians contributed. The publicly-funded publication has been subject of controversy for failing to achieve the standards of objectivity associated with, for example, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The historian Henry Kamen has argued that it was a mistake to include living figures among the entries.[4] However the main allegations of bias concern articles relating to Francoist Spain, notably the entry on Francisco Franco, in which he is defined as an autocratic head of state rather than a dictator.[5][2] Another focus of complaint is the entry on the democratically elected President Negrin, whose administration is described as dictatorial.[6]
The dictionary sparked an outcry with most objections coming from voices on the left such as the party United Left and the newspaper Público.[6] For his part, Green party senator Joan Saura asked for publication of the dictionary to be stopped and the offending volumes withdrawn,[7] while the Minister of Culture asked for a correction. The Academy confirmed in June 2011 that amendments would be made to the text on line and in future paper editions.[8]
As formerly the main Spanish institution for antiquaries, the Academy retains significant libraries and collections of antiquities. The keeper of antiquities is the prehistorian Martín Almagro Gorbea.
Items held include:
The Real Academia de la Historia is composed of 36 members, with Academic Correspondents covering all the provinces of Spain and the rest of the world, taking the actual number to 370 (2006). The members of the Academy are (after the number of chair):
Notable Academic Correspondents of the Academy include -
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