A programme of public events throughout the year will focus on poetry, literature, music, photography, dance, cultural links between Spanish-speaking countries and Scotland.
The programme will also offer teacher training and certification.
Cervantes Institute
The Cervantes Institute is the official Spanish Language and Cultural centre. It is a non-profit organisation founded by the Spanish Government in 1991.
Its mission is to promote and support the teaching, study and use of Spanish abroad, as well as to promote Spanish and Hispanic cultures more generally.
The Cervantes Institute has four other locations in the UK and Ireland, and 92 centres across four continents and in 47 countries. This will be the first centre in Scotland.
Cervantes Chair
The Cervantes Institute will be hosted at the University of Edinburgh. The partnership has created a global first through the creation of a Cátedra Cervantes/Cervantes Chair.
This position will be held by Alexis Grohmann, Professor of Contemporary Spanish Literature at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures.
Celebration
An inauguration ceremony was attended by Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson; the Academic Director of the Instituto Cervantes, Carmen Pastor; Consul General of Spain in Edinburgh, Ignacio Cartagena; Cervantes Chair, Alexis Grohmann; and Director of the Instituto Cervantes Luis García Montero.