Royal Economic Society of Extremadura of Friends of the Country

The Real Sociedad Económica Extremeña de Amigos del País, known in the city of Badajoz, where it has its headquarters, simply as the Económica,[1] was founded by Royal Order of 5 February 1815,[2] that is, in the early moments of the reign of Ferdinand VII. It is, therefore, an official institution – considered the oldest of its kind in Extremadura – especially imbued with the enlightened and liberal spirit prior to its constitution under an absolutist regime and decisive in the economic and cultural development of both the city and the province of Badajoz throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Among his most brilliant contributions are the creation of the chairs of Agriculture,[3] Geometry, Mechanics and Delineation, Chemistry of Arts or Drawing, the establishment of the Normal School of Teachers and the Commission of Historical and Artistic Monuments, precursor of the Provincial Archaeological Museum, the Institute of Second General and Technical Education, the Normal School of Teachers, the Municipal Academy of Drawing and Painting, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Badajoz, the organization of the only Regional Exhibition Extremadura held so far, in which, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America, 1052 industrial and artistic objects were exhibited, highlighting among the latter an Ecce Homo by Luis de Morales plus 23 paintings by Felipe Checa; the Agricultural School Farm, created around 1902/3 and inaugurated by Alfonso XIII in 1905, the celebration of the first centenary of the birth of the poet and bibliophile from Badajoz Vicente Barrantes [4] or, in general, countless different competitions, colloquiums[5] and exhibitions of Extremaduran artists:[6]

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public | Spanish