Europe

Learning Languages Through Art

Spanish courses at the Bode Museum

October 14th, 2019
Gloria Algarotti, News from Berlin
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In coordination with the Spanish Embassy, the Spanish Cultural Institute (Instituto Cervantes), provides Spanish classes at the Bode Museum. The aim is to make Berliners more familiar with the Spanish language, art and culture by making use of the Spanish artistic heritage preserved in the museum.

The project named “El arte del leguaje / El leguaje del arte” (The art of the language/The language of art), has been running throughout the year 2019, with the first event taking place in May and the last one scheduled for December 7th 2019. The initiative consists of Spanish classes for every Berliner interested in the Hispanic world as well as their arts.

The class-series originates from a collaboration between the Instituto Cervantes and the Berliner Bode Museum. The Spanish art experts Dr. Anna Talens and Dr. Amanda Robledo will take the classes, which are entirely in Spanish and will focus on analyzing some of the artworks from the Museum’s collection.

People of all ages are welcome and those who are interested can choose to join one of three different groups. Adult classes will take place starting from 6pm, while the students and mixed age groups will gather in at 11am. Each class costs about 10€ and lasts from 60 to 90 minutes.

Different topics will be covered throughout the courses, such as sculpting techniques, religious sculpture, funerary sculptures and historical insights. The courses make use of works of art to present and showcase the Spanish culture, history and language. By analyzing works of art the history of Spain and of its relations to Germany will be also traced back, pointing out not only cultural differences between the countries but rather their similarities.

The chosen works from the collection of the Bode Museum are products of particular historical and cultural instances. Through a direct contact with artefacts, which clearly recall their Spanish origins, the participants can establish a personal, emotional connection to a foreign culture. In this way, the culture appears livelier and will remain more engrained in people’s minds.

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News from Berlin