Instituto Cervantes announced on Wednesday that it will establish an academic chair at Queen’s University Belfast, marking the Spanish institution’s first permanent presence at the leading university in the British province of Northern Ireland. This milestone comes during a landmark year, as the academic institution celebrates the centenary of its Department of Spanish—the oldest in the United Kingdom.

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This new academic and cultural initiative continues the Cervantes’ expansion across the UK, following the establishment of its first chair in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2023. The project aims to boost the promotion of the Spanish language in the region, where, over the last decade, it has risen from the tenth most spoken language to sixth place.

Instituto Cervantes Director Luis García Montero will participate in several events in Belfast starting Thursday to celebrate the centenary of Queen’s Department of Spanish—known as the “Musgrave Chair of Spanish”—and to advance the creation of this new institutional role.

Until now, the Cervantes had not conducted any activities—whether in teaching, language certification, or culture—in the Northern Irish capital, despite the city’s strong ties to literature and the arts. Belfast is the birthplace of writer C.S. Lewis and was linked to the career of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, the 1995 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature.

The Cervantes also highlighted Queen’s University’s status as a member of the Russell Group, a coalition of leading research-intensive British universities. With a century-long history, its Department of Spanish serves as a hub for cultural and intellectual connection between the region and the Spanish-speaking world, engaging in activities such as research and internationalization.

Events scheduled for Thursday include the opening of the exhibition “100 Years of Spanish @Queen’s: celebrating the past, shaping the future” at the university’s McClay Library. The exhibition will review the cultural, educational, and global impact of Hispanic studies at Queen’s over the last century and will address the future of language teaching.

That same day, García Montero will take part in a poetry reading alongside Queen’s researcher Isabel Torres. The centenary program will be rounded out by various lectures and meetings with figures linked to Spanish-language culture, including writer and critic Juan Manuel Bonet, writer Elvira Lindo, and Argentine poet Claudia Masin.

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