Alcalá de Henares - Colegio de San Ildefonso

Of the Colegio de San Ildefonso in the Plaza de San Diego, built between 1498 and 1508 to house the University, only the Great Hall survived the Civil War.

The first courtyard of the Colegio de San Ildefonso, the Patio de Santo Tomás y Villanueva, is surrounded by a double gallery and contains a fountain decorated with swans (the heraldic emblem of Cardinal Cisneros) and a statue of the founder (1670). This courtyard leads into a museum on the history of the University (on first floor). Beyond this is the Patio de Filósofos, and this in turn goes into the Patio Trilingüe (named after the three classical languages - Greek, Hebrew and Latin). In this courtyard is the Great Hall, the Paraninfo, one of the few parts of the building which have remained unchanged since the original foundation.