News

Salamanca, 19 Enero 2025 (LA GACETA) By Javier Burguillo

More than nine thousand people from Salamanca have visited the exhibition that collects little-known aspects of the presence of the Irish

The University of Salamanca has extended, until February 23, the exhibition “Harps and Clovers in Castile. The Royal College of St. Patrick of Irish Nobles of Salamanca”, after the success that the exhibition has had throughout the months of November and December, with more than nine thousand visitors. It is now 70 years since the Irish left our city for good and the people of Salamanca no longer remember the importance that these students with white skin, blue eyes and blond (or even reddish) hair had for more than three hundred and fifty years, both in local life and in our international projection, since the Colegio de los Irlandeses was also a window through which Castile observed the evolution of the great religious and political challenges of Europe in the Modern Age.

All visitors to this exhibition highlight that the exhibition shines in a special way because it is installed in the Chapel of the Colegio Fonseca, one of the jewels of the Spanish Renaissance, which has an impressive altarpiece by Alonso de Berruguete, little known to the people of Salamanca. Throughout several display cases and thirty panels, the exhibition describes the most relevant milestones in the history of the Irish during the time they lived among us, the different headquarters they used (in addition to the Colegio Fonseca, they previously lived in Calle San Pablo, in Cuesta de San Blas, in a wing of the old Jesuit College known as La Irlanda, and in the Torre del Aire), the biographical trajectory of some of its most prominent protagonists, numerous artistic pieces and a multitude of memories of their time at the University and the streets of Salamanca. Those who are most interested usually stop at the panel dedicated to Luke Wadding, who instituted the feast of St. Patrick (in his hometown he is known for this as the man who gave us St. Patrick’s Day), and the one dedicated to Patrick Curtis, a brave Irish rector, friend of Wellington, who organized a spy network during the years of the Napoleonic invasion, who has now become a character in the British popular imagination, because he appears in novels, films and television series. And, of course, several panels are dedicated to the history of the magnificent Alexander McCabe, who was a student, vice-rector and rector of the College and a figure of great relevance in Salamanca during a good part of the first half of the last century. Many people are struck by the photographs of these young people wearing sunglasses in the 1930s (a device never seen by the Spanish until then), or by how we in Salamanca discovered football thanks to these Irishmen and their little games on the outskirts of the city, or their friendship with Unamuno, who enjoyed listening to them recite poems in English, or their surprising worth as musicians, singers and actors (it seems that the famous Irish tune Salamanca Reel may come from these Hibernian students), and many other stories, such as the gifts that the Three Wise Men left at the Irish School for the children of the orphanage run by the Daughters of Charity across the street. From the end of the 19th century, the Irish began to use the College courtyard and its magnificent Renaissance cloister as a musical and theatrical stage, with performances open to the city and proposals of great intellectual height, so that the Irish, especially the college teachers, integrated into the cultural life of the city with great dynamism.

The presence of the Irish in Salamanca also illuminates many aspects of our history as a province, because they had a holiday home (and a winery) in Aldearrubia and properties in many other towns, such as Castellanos de Moriscos, Monterrubio de la Armuña, La Mata de la Armuña, Gomecello, Babilafuente, Castellanos de Villiquera, Villamayor or San Cristóbal de la Cuesta (more than one cemetery in these towns still holds the remains of an Irishman who died while studying and never returned to his island). And for the hottest weeks they bought an Indian house in Asturias, the famous Casona de Verines, which is now also owned by the University of Salamanca. More recently, hundreds of children from Salamanca have studied English in the summer in the courses organised by the University in this house.

A dozen researchers from various countries have been reconstructing, for more than three years, the history of the Irish who lived in the city of Tormes from August 1592 (when Philip II founded the College to shelter Irish Catholics fleeing English repression) until spring.