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Published: July 10th 2008
Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit the Spanish Senate. Interestingly enough, Spain's Senate has 264 members - 208 are elected by popular vite, 56 are appointed by regional legislatures. Terms are four years, but the seats appointed by regional legislatures can be recalled at any time. I also did not know that Spain is comprised of 51 territories.
We were able to tour several rooms, which is well-documented by my pictures. We started off in a smaller new meeting room, which was built in 1991. After that we saw the actual senate floor that is used today and the original senate floor (built in 1820). The original senate floor was actually a convent that the King converted into the Senate instead of destroying it during the inquisition.
We also toured an amazing historical library. The library contains copies of some of the oldest books in the world because it is comprised of the King's personal collection (which he did not destroy during the inquisition). Particularly interesting is a copy of Dante (but you can't really see the picture of it).
The library is now used by scholars for research, but any student can gain access to it
with permission from the Senate. Because of tradition, the library still receives a daily copy of several newspapers.
Overall, this was quite an experience!
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