El Cid

Knight, mercenary leader

El Cid, actually Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, (* around 1045 to 1050) was a Castilian knight and mercenary leader from the Reconquista period who became a Spanish national hero in modern times. His nickname El Cid is derived from the Arabic al-sayyid / ‘the lord’ or, in the vernacular, sīdī / ‘my lord’.

Pablo Picasso

Painter, graphic artist, sculptor

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (born 25 October 1881 in Málaga) was a Spanish painter, graphic artist and sculptor. His extensive oeuvre includes paintings, drawings, prints, collages, sculptures and ceramics, the total number of which is estimated at 50,000. It is characterised by a great variety of artistic forms of expression and techniques. The works from his Blue and Pink Periods and the foundation of Cubism together with Georges Braque mark the beginning of his extraordinary artistic career.

Joan Miro

Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, ceramist

Joan Miró i Ferra (born 20 April 1893 in Barcelona) was a Spanish-Catalan painter, graphic artist, sculptor and ceramist.
As a representative of classical modernism with his imaginative pictorial motifs, Miró was one of the most popular artists of the 20th century. His magical symbols for the moon, stars, bird, eye and woman are among the best-known elements of his art. In public spaces, for example, his ceramic walls adorn the UNESCO building in Paris and the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen am Rhein; monumental sculptures by him can be found in squares in Barcelona and Chicago, among other places.

Ramon Llull

Philosopher, logician, grammarian, Franciscan theologian

Ramon Llull (* around 1232 in Palma) was a Mallorcan philosopher, logician, grammarian and Franciscan theologian. He lived for a long time in the Mallorcan monastery Santuari de Cura on Mount Randa, where he is said to have experienced mystical visions. His tomb is located in the Basilica of Sant Francesc in Palma.

Emilia Pardo Bazán

Writer, feminist

Emilia Pardo Bazán (* 16 September 1851 in A Coruña) was a Spanish writer and feminist.
Emilia Pardo Bazán is considered a pioneer of naturalism in Spanish literature. She sparked a broad debate about this literary movement.
She was also one of the first feminists in Spain. In several articles, she denounced the male dominance that prevailed in Spain and proposed reforms in favour of women. Influenced by the philosophical doctrine of Krausismo, which was influential in Spain, she lamented the fact that Spain was lagging behind other European countries in this area and called for women's educational standards to be equalised with those of men.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

Painter, graphic artist

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (born 30 March 1746 in Fuendetodos, Aragón) was a Spanish painter and graphic artist.
Among other things, he was court painter to the royal family.

Salvador Dalí

Painter, graphic artist, writer, sculptor, stage designer

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech (born 11 May 1904 in Figueres, Catalonia) was a Spanish painter, graphic artist, writer, sculptor and stage designer. As one of the main representatives of Surrealism, he is one of the most famous painters of the 20th century.
Melting clocks, crutches and burning giraffes became recognisable features of Dalí's painting. His technical painting skills allowed him to create his paintings in an old-masterly style reminiscent of later photorealism.

Philipp II

Monarch

Philipp II (* 21 May 1527 in the Palacio de Pimentel, Valladolid) was a Spanish monarch from the Habsburg dynasty.
Due to the enormous supplies of gold and silver from the American possessions, the Spanish empire reached the height of its global supremacy under Philipp, which also led to a great flourishing of art and culture (Siglo de Oro). However, due to the numerous military conflicts, Spain was already in decline towards the end of his reign and had to declare state bankruptcy three times.
His motto was Non sufficit orbis (‘The world is not enough’).

Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez

Bullfighter

Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, known as ‘Manolete’, (born 4 July 1917 in Córdoba) was a Spanish bullfighter.
He was known throughout Spain for the courage with which he faced bulls. The torero achieved a high degree of fame in a large number of corridas. He died in 1947 in the first-aid room of the Linares bullring after the bull Islero took him by the horns. 
The Franco dictatorship attempted to exploit the increased public reverence for this bullfighter following Manolete's death and stylised him as the epitome of Spanish heroism and the Spaniards' willingness to make sacrifices. US actor Adrien Brody plays the legendary torero in the film of the same name, Manolete.

Carlos I de España

King

Charles V (Spanish: Carlos I; * 24 February 1500 in Ghent) was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and, as Charles I, King of Spain. He was the first regent of Spain to bring the previously powerful royal houses of Castile and Aragon under one roof.

Francisco Gómez de Quevedo Villegas y Santibánez Cevallas

Nobleman, politician, writer

Francisco Gómez de Quevedo Villegas y Santibáñez Cevallos (Madrid, 14 September 1580) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Golden Age.
He is considered one of the most important poets in Spanish literature and, in addition to his poetry, he was a prolific author of short stories and plays as well as philosophical and humanist texts.

Ferdinand Magellan

Navigator

Ferdinand Magellan (* before 1485 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal) was a Portuguese navigator who initiated the first historically documented circumnavigation of the globe. His expedition, which provided the last practical proof of the already known spherical shape of the earth, was commissioned by the Spanish crown and was actually intended to find a western route to the Spice Islands.
He and his crew discovered and travelled through the Strait of Magellan at the end of 1520 and subsequently became the first Europeans to cross the Pacific. 

James I The Conqueror

Monarch

James I the Conqueror (* 2 February 1208 in Montpellier) was King of Aragon, King of Valencia, King of Mallorca, Count of Barcelona (Catalonia), Count of Urgell and Lord of Montpellier from the House of Barcelona from 1213 to 1276. He was one of the most important monarchs of the Spanish Middle Ages and, thanks to his conquests, became the actual founder of the Crown of Aragon's naval power in the western Mediterranean, which enabled Aragon to establish itself alongside Castile and Portugal as one of the three leading Christian powers on the Iberian Peninsula.

Christopher Columbus

Navigator

Christopher Columbus (born around 1451 in the Republic of Genoa) was an Italian navigator in Castilian service who wanted to find a western sea route to India via the Atlantic and reached an island in the Bahamas in October 1492, then other Caribbean islands. This is generally regarded as the discovery of America in 1492. 

Francisco de Zurbarán

Painter

Francisco de Zurbarán (baptised 7 November 1598 in Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura) was a Spanish painter from the Golden Age (‘Siglo de Oro’) of Iberian Baroque art. He mainly painted devotional pictures and vites of saints and, with the ascetic rigour of his paintings, was entirely in line with his mostly ecclesiastical patrons. As religious occupy a large part of his work, he is sometimes referred to as the ‘painter of monks’.

Antoni Gaudí

Architect

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (born 25 June 1852 in Reus) was a Spanish architect and outstanding representative of the Catalan Modernisme movement.
Gaudí's life's work was the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona. He worked on it almost from the beginning of his career as an architect. Today the church, although still unfinished, is the most famous of Barcelona's landmarks. On 7 November 2010, it was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI and elevated to the status of a papal basilica minor.
A total of seven of Gaudí's buildings in and around Barcelona have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as serial cultural assets under the title Works by Antoni Gaudí.

Enric Bernat

Entrepreneur

Enric Bernat (born 20 October 1923 in Barcelona) was a Spanish entrepreneur and founder of the Chupa Chups company. He became famous in the 1950s with the invention of Chupa Chups lollipops.
A study he commissioned found that children were the main consumers of sweets, although according to the study they were not developed in a child-friendly way, as children smeared their fingers on the sticky sweets. So he developed sweets on a stick (lollipops) and had this idea patented. 

Hernán Cortés

Conquistador

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano (* 1485 in Medellín) was a Spanish conquistador. With the help of his Indian allies, he conquered the Aztec Empire and its capital Tenochtitlan. From 1521 to 1530, Hernán Cortés was governor-general of New Spain.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Theologian, Dominican friar, historian

Bartolomé de Las Casas (* 1484 or 1485 in Seville) was a Spanish theologian, Dominican friar and historian.
As the first bishop of Chiapas in what is now Mexico, he attempted to implement reforms locally, but met with considerable resistance. In the Valladolid Debate (1550-1551), he argued against the subjugation of the indigenous people.
He wrote detailed historical treatises on the events between 1492 and 1536, many of which he witnessed, criticised the brutal exploitation of the indigenous people and denounced it in his work Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, which describes the atrocities of colonial rule. His efforts contributed to the passing of the Leyes Nuevas of 1542, which were intended to strengthen the protection of the indigenous peoples.

Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumon

Inventor, engineer, officer, administrative official, composer

Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (* 1553 in Guenduliáin) was a Spanish inventor, engineer, officer, administrator and composer. Due to his wide-ranging knowledge and activities, he is considered a polymath and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Spanish Da Vinci’.
Jerónimo de Ayanz's most innovative invention was his steam engine for industrial use. It was the first patented steam engine in history.

Joanna the Mad

Queen

Joanna I of Castile, known as Joanna the Mad (Spanish: Juana I de Castilla or Juana la Loca; (*6 November 1479 in Toledo), from the House of Trastámara was Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of the Realms of the Crown of Aragon from 1516. She was excluded from the affairs of government due to a suspected or at least temporary mental illness. From 1507 to 1516, her father Ferdinand II of Aragon reigned on her behalf in Castile. From 1516, she was queen together with her son Charles.

Queen Urraca

Queen

Urraca (* around 1080) was Queen of León, Galicia and Castile from the House of Jiménez from 1109 until her death. She was the first queen to rule by her own birthright in medieval Europe.

Miguel de Cervantes

Writer

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (probably born 29 September 1547 in Alcalá de Henares) was a Spanish writer. The author of Don Quixote is considered Spain's national poet.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Physician, histologist, university lecturer

Santiago Felipe Ramón y Cajal (born 1 May 1852 in Petilla de Aragón) was a Spanish physician, histologist and university lecturer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1906 together with the Italian physician and physiologist Camillo Golgi in recognition of all their studies and their numerous publications. As a neurohistologist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal worked primarily on the fine structures of the nervous system, in particular the brain and spinal cord.