[[ARCHITECTURE]] [[Buildings and [[Structures]]]] [[Patriotic]] [[School]] [[Speciality]] [[Vermay]] [[Vigil]] [[academia]] [[alejandro]] [[artes]] [[bellas]] [[de]] [[nacional]] [[san]] [[wiki-architecture]] # Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is also known as Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", Academia San Alejandro, or San Alejandro Academy. The school is located in Marianao, a suburb of Havana, and was founded in 1818 at the Convent of San Alejandro. It is located today in a monumental building built in the early 1940s. Beginning The school was founded with the support of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country and the General Intendant of the Treasury and was founded under the direction of the French artist Jean Baptiste Vermay (1784–1833). The school was named after Don Alejandro Ramírez, general superintendent and director of the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country. It is the educational center with the largest number of years building the teaching on the lands of Latin America, preceded only by the University of Havana. It turned-from a number of changes that occurred in Spain in the 19th century and not surprisingly was felt in the colonies, in the climate of the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812 and enlightened absolutism. It was established by the Royal Patriotic Society and the Royal Consulate of Havana, as the Free School of Drawing and Painting. Its first director, Juan Bautista Vermay, who arrived in Cuba when the Bonaparte empire collapsed, when he was 31 years old. Administration The internal life at San Alejandro is governed by the Board of Directors who in turn appoints the Technical Council, who in turn run the different departments that make up the teaching faculty. The Board of Directors consists of the Director and Deputy Director and the Secretaries Speciality Teaching, Education, Health Care-Economic, Business and Education. The Technical Board, in turn, is the body responsible for representing the teaching faculty to the Board of Directors. It consists of all deans of each departments. These are the Deans of Drawing, Painting, Engraving, Sculpture, Ceramics, Jewelry, Graphic Arts and Theoretical-Cultural Teachings. San Alejandro has exchanges with many schools abroad, including in the UK The Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School. Over the past three years, three exchanges have taken place. The exchanges consisted of the students from Wiseman travelling to Cuba in February, and the Cuban students coming to London in June. Directors Notable alumni Nela Arias-Misson (1915–2015), painter and sculptor Belkis Ayón (1967–1999) José Bedia Valdés (born 1959), painter Tania Bruguera (born 1968) Manuel Carbonell (1918–2011), sculptor Pablo Borges Delgado Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy (born 1971), painter Antonia Eiriz (1929–1995), painter Eberto Escobedo Lazo Agustín Fernández Antonio Gattorno Enrique Gay García Juan Esnard Heydrich Wifredo Lam (1902–1982), painter, printmaker, and sculptor Alicia Leal (born 1957), painter Reynier Leyva Novo (born 1983), contemporary and conceptual artist Rita Longa (1912–2000), sculptor Víctor Manuel (1897–1969), painter José Martí (1853–1895), poet, revolutionary Manuel Mendive Amelia Peláez Roberto Juan Diago Querol Sandra Ramos (born 1969) Teodoro Ramos Blanco (1902–1972), sculptor, and educator Osvaldo Salas Mariano Suárez del Villar (1929–1996), painter Manuel Rodulfo Tardo (1913–1998) José Toirac Fernando Velázquez Vigil References External links Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro” website