From the article -own translation- by archaeologist Miquel Tarradell (Barcelona, 1920-1995) in The Vanguard (18-X-1974) following the death of fellow archaeologist Pere Bosch i Gimpera (Barcelona, 1891 – Mexico, 1974), which happened in the autumn of fifty years ago. Bosch i Gimpera was rector of the Republican Autonomous University between 1932 and 1939, an institution that in that same period was chaired by Pompeu Fabra at the head of the Board of Trustees. This section yesterday included the answers that Fabra gave to journalist Irene Polo when she interviewed him upon taking office.
When the news of Bosch-Gimpera’s death began to circulate through the University, news that had arrived via the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, I witnessed the great impression it produced. And not only among the prehistorians and archaeologists, for whom the great teacher represents the founder, the father of the School, the teacher who raised these studies, among us, to an international category. But also among all university students, young people and mature people. It is not often that the death of an old master produces such an impact. Bosch-Gimpera, who disappeared at the age of 83, had been absent since 1939 (he went into exile when Franco completed his coup after three years). Almost none of those affected had met him personally. Very few, for reasons of specialty, had read his books. What was that emotion to be attributed to? The rector of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in the 1930s had died. Years ago, in one of my first personal contacts with Bosch-Gimpera, I told him that for us, who had entered the University after the war, he was like a mythological figure. He had become the symbol of that University. The experience of these days has confirmed it. (…) It was the most serious attempt, and largely achieved, to structure a University that combined three basic premises. First, making it an institution in the country where the language issue was raised was essential; a question that was raised without exclusivism due to the fact that Spanish and Catalan coexisted within the University. Second, a high intellectual and technical level in teaching and research, with freely chosen plans, incorporating new professors of a recognized category, with freedom of recruitment, deployment of specialized libraries; a model, therefore, that approached that of the great European and American universities. Third, a clear desire for social projection, beyond the usual limits, as demonstrated by the creation of courses such as University Studies for Workers. Programming a University of this kind, starting from the panorama that was there, was a heroic adventure. (…) Once the seeds of renewal had been planted, it was necessary to wait for society to allow it, for the general favorable circumstances to occur so that the University was, in truth, autonomous and could, therefore, deploy its own initiatives. It is possible that today in our Universities of Barcelona, with a decision-making capacity similar to that of Bosch-Gimpera and his team, with real autonomy, we could try something similar to what they, with so much success , they were able to carry out. In any case, the University of Bosch-Gimpera is, for now, an unsurpassed model.
Source: www.ara.cat
