This exhibition retraced the cruise organized in 1933 by Manuel García Morente, then dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Madrid. The 188 professors and students boarded the ship, "City of Cadiz", to study the sources of European civilization: Tunisia, Malta, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. The significance of this trip, unprecedented in the Spanish cultural life at that time, not only lies in novelty of the project, but also in the prominence of the travelers themselves: Manuel Gómez Moreno, Elías Tormo, Antonio García Bellido, Julián Marías, Soledad Ortega, Jaime Vicens Vives, Salvador Espriu, María Elena Gómez Moreno, Fernando Chueca Goitia, Gregorio Marañón, Isabel García Lorca, Luis Díez del Corral, Antonio Tovar, Emilio Garrigues and Manuel Ballesteros.

 

The exhibition displayed photographs of the cruise, including a wide selection of those taken by architect Pascual Bravo, letters, travel brochures, press cuttings, drawings and other documents, together with the model of the ship, from the Maritime Museum of Barcelona. It also included panels on the cruise's significance in the history of Spanish education, Manuel García Morente's philosophical and educational ideas, and the warm welcome the travelers received, especially in Athens, not only in this trip but also in a second one organized to pay tribute to El Greco.