José Pedro Varela y el patrimonio escolar en el Museo Pedagógico de Montevideo

Abstract

A few months ago we had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Uruguay, especially in Montevideo. This allowed us to get a better insight into the attractive pedagogical culture of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, to visit and analyse several schools, and to become even more motivated in our reading of the classics of Uruguayan pedagogy (especially José Pedro Varela and Carlos Vaz Ferreira). We also had the opportunity to have a leisurely visit to the Pedagogical Museum of Montevideo, its exhibition rooms and collections, to get to know several of its rich collections of school material, as well as the excellent pedagogical library, with impressive collections of educational magazines from the second half of the 19th and the whole of the 20th century, and extensive collections of school textbooks. Of course, the conversations with the specialist staff, management and support staff were always enthusiastic and very fruitful.

It is from these circumstances that we propose the following reflection on some of the aspects of the rich Uruguayan school heritage, especially the importance of José Pedro Varela's contribution to it. This is what we share in this brief text with those interested in the study of school heritage, and in such a specific space as a journal specialising in this scientific field.