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Colección Historia Fundamental
In 2021, the Foundation launched this book collection to promote the study and circulation of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish and Ibero-American history.
Written by renowned experts on this period, each volume explores events, individuals and subjects that are still insufficiently understood or largely unfamiliar to the general public.
The titles are also available as e-books and audiobooks. Informative podcasts and videos about the collection can also be listened to or watched separately on the Foundation’s website and the main multimedia streaming platforms.
Mujeres emprendedoras (s.XVI y XVI)
Carmen Sanz Ayán
The third volume in the Colección Historia Fundamental [Fundamental History Collection] introduces us to the many women who were involved in the world of business and enterprise in the 1500s and 1600s. In her essay, the scholar and historian Carmen Sanz Ayán analyses the social circumstances and legal status of women during this period and tells us about the life and work of hitherto unknown female entrepreneurs (booksellers, financiers, printers, etc.) in Spain and Ibero-America.
It includes a booklet with the last will and testament of María Bezón, aka “La Bezona”, an actress and theatre impresario of that era, as well as a QR link to a talk with Carmen Sanz.
Colección Biografías de Historia Fundamental
In 2024, the Foundation launched a new book collection that aims to shine a spotlight on figures from the history of Spain and Ibero-America who lived between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly people who have been forgotten or systematically ignored by historians.
In each volume, an expert presents the conclusions of their research, along with illustrations and documents to situate the subject in his or her context.
The collection is also available in e-book and audiobook format. Complementary audiovisual materials based on the texts of each edition and interviews with historians are freely accessible on the Foundation’s website.
José Luis Villacañas Berlanga
In this book, philosophy professor José Luis Villacañas Berlanga examines the life and work of Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, a writer and diplomat who lived through one of the most critical periods of Spanish history, marked by conflicts in Europe and the decline of the House of Habsburg.
In an account set against the backdrop of the Thirty Years’ War, we read about his involvement in the Peace of Münster and discover the source and breadth of his literary and political writings.
In addition to illustrations and reproductions of several documents in Saavedra Fajardo’s own handwriting, the volume contains a QR link to an interview with the author.
Biografías e Historia
Fundación Banco Santander and Fundación Cultural de la Nobleza Española organize this annual lecture series to examine different periods of our history through the lives of people who played a leading role in them.
In 2025, Carmen Iglesias, Fernando Iwasaki, Elvira Roca and Jaime Olmedo came to Camilo José Cela University to talk about individuals from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries whose lives were, for different reasons, marked by hardship and risk. This was true of renowned public figures like Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso, but also of less familiar or forgotten names like Beatriz Coya, Juan de Mendoza, Luisa Melgarejo and Juan de Mariana.
Videos of the 2025 lectures are available on the Foundation's YouTube channel, along with those of previous years.
La Colección de Ideas
Fundación Banco Santander organizes this “collection of ideas” as a forum to discuss the biggest economic, political, social and environmental challenges that humans will face in the future. At each session, a speaker introduces the topic, and a group of experts then shares their thoughts, ideas and proposals.
The eight sessions held in the course of 2025 addressed the link between humanism and technology; the future of electric cars; the geopolitical triangle formed by the United States, Europe and China; the need for a common European defence strategy; economic growth in volatile times; the challenges of cybersecurity and the technological sovereignty of nation-states; the EU’s ability to compete with the US; and the digital euro.
Banco Santander Historical Archives
The Foundation has a partnership agreement with Fundación UCEIF (University of Cantabria Foundation for the Study and Research of the Financial Sector) for the management and conservation of Banco Santander’s historical records.
These archives are an indispensable source of information for understanding and studying the Spanish financial system and its economic history. They consist of documents and books owned by Banco Santander and other financial institutions that have been absorbed into what is now Grupo Santander, a collection of banking artefacts, and another of stock and bond certificates and other bank documents dating from the nineteenth century and later.
In 2025, restoration work was done on paper documents of different sizes, weights and types of ink from the correspondence of Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola López.
Hispania Nostra Awards
Each year, Fundación Banco Santander and the association Hispania Nostra organize these awards to recognize best practices applied to the conservation of Spain’s cultural and natural heritage.
In 2025, the Land or Landscape Intervention Award went to the recovery of the old salt flats in Marchamalo, Murcia.
The restoration of the parish church of San Pedro Mártir y San Nicolás Obispo in Valencia was selected in the category of Conservation of Heritage as a Factor of Socio-Economic Development. Second-place awards were also granted for efforts to resume the activity of Valencian music societies after the tragic floods of 2024, and to restore the ancient sculptures of ephebes that were recovered from a looter in Pedro Abad, Córdoba.
Finally, the innovative signs created to support and promote the bid for World Heritage status of Sigüenza, Guadalajara, received the Cultural and Natural Heritage Signage and Publicity Award.