Few great institutions remain in Spain like the Ateneo de Madrid. An emblematic, bicentennial place, in which critical thinking, free dialogue and intellectual debate, knowledge, art, culture and science have been encouraged and cultivated. One of the indisputably most relevant entities in Spanish intellectual and cultural life, a meeting place where all kinds of social issues and Madrid and Spanish politics have been discussed.
In its two centuries of history, the Ateneo de Madrid has faced dramatic circumstances, moments of adversity, economic crisis and paralysis, but it has also experienced luminous times and moments that, it is fair to recognize, have greatly contributed to culture, knowledge and the progress in freedom of Spanish society.
Today, the Ateneo de Madrid must open itself to new horizons. It must recover the light of its best times, inserting itself into the social and cultural fabric of our time, maintaining the spirit and values ??that guided its founders, and the firm commitment to contributing to public enlightenment. That is the will with which, in 2021, the 1820 Special Group of digital culture was born, for reflection and debate on society, culture and the arts in the internet era. Why 1820? because that was the year in which the Ateneo was founded, in the constitutional triennium, promoted as a unique area of ??dialogue and coexistence by enlightened minds convinced of the need to strengthen the liberal mentality in Spain through debate, open discussion and expansion of the lights.
Two years ago, with a historic participation and majority, our candidacy, that of Group 1820, headed by Luis Arroyo, won the elections to the Governing Board of the Ateneo de Madrid, and since then we have tackled the immense task of returning the light to this venerable Madrid and Spanish cultural institution.
Next October 30, the Ateneo de Madrid returns to the polls to elect the Section Tables, which are the body that hosts the scientific, literary and artistic discussions of the Ateneo. Twenty-six Sections that reflect the interest in the culture and thought of the Athenaeum. To all of them, the 1820 group presents candidates that stand out for their plurality and rigor, for being made up of outstanding, decent professionals, moved by the firm will to continue renewing and improving the Ateneo, adapting it to new times, without ceasing to be what which it has always been: an engine of dialogue, coexistence and illustration.
We want an Ateneo that regains visibility and effectiveness in being a channel of expression for a Madrid and Spanish civil society that must be more alive than ever. I call, from the bottom of my heart, to the Ateneo members, friends and partners of the Ateneo, to mobilize and participate with their vote in these new elections for the Sections, so that the Scientific, Literary and Artistic Ateneo of Madrid, our beloved association, continues to be vanguard and engine of illustration, and continue to illuminate Madrid and Spain with the same strength and intensity with which it has done so during the last two hundred years.
*María Zaplana is president of the Special Group 1820.
