"All my life I have loved students and, of course, Art History."

Clara Fernández-Ladreda, - "Doña Clara", as she is often called-, gave her last class on European medieval art last Friday, April 11, after forty years as a professor. She has always defended the attention of you, especially with her students: "Camaraderie, trust and friendship are not incompatible with respect and attention from you".

He hopes that many history graduates will become archivists, librarians, museum curators or cultural advisors, but, especially, "it is essential that many vocational teachers emerge. The future of the country lies in the faculty, a profession that is perhaps not highly valued, but which is a core topic".

Q. What is your first memory of the University?

The day I came to take the entrance exam. I started the degree program at the University of Oviedo, where I am from, and I arrived in Pamplona in the third year. I was interviewed by Professor Cristina Diz-Lois, with whom I made excellent friends. That day I was scared to death and I remember thinking: "My God, let's see how I do this". The fact is that they took me.

P. You finished your degree program in History here, why did you decide to stay at the University?

Initially I was thinking of returning to Oviedo, but in life there are things that take you down unexpected paths. One summer day, Professor Soledad Silva, who had taught me the subject of Medieval Art, phoned me in Asturias. She told me that she had to direct a course at the high school Mayor Goimendi and she could not do it. She asked me if I could substitute for her. Professor Silva was a model for me because she was an extremely orderly person. As shy and timid as I was at the time, I said yes. I still can't explain why.

I remember that I had to lead several excursions and in the first one we returned to Goimendi at one o'clock in the morning. Apparently, people were very happy. Soon after, Concepción García Gaínza, then director of the Art department , asked me if I would be interested in doing my doctoral thesis and teaching in the department. I said I would be delighted to do so. I still thought that one day I would return to Asturias.

Q. Do you remember the first class you taught?

At first I began teaching the Spanish Renaissance subject to the Liberal Arts degree program , although I don't remember much about it. I do remember the first one I taught to History students: it was to replace Professor Silva and it was apocalyptic.

I read everything I could, prepared the slides, made my notes, a script... I arrived punctually to class, put the notes on the right, the script on the left and the slides already prepared on the trolley. I thought of resting my hands on the table and giving a general look at the students to give an impression of serene mastery of the status. There was smoking in the classrooms then and there were very large ashtrays on the tables. I rested my hands and, unfortunately, stuck a hand in the ashtray. Fortunately, the cigarette butts were all extinguished, but the serene mastery was wrecked in a chorus of laughter from the students.

Q. What have you enjoyed most about your work at the University?

attention students. I always say that students are tested once, but teachers are tested multiple times. At the beginning, I went to class thinking: "Please, don't let them goal me something I don't know how to answer". As time went by, I became more confident and the class was no longer like an exam, but like a lecture for friends.

It is very enjoyable to give a class, also when you read a good exam or when a student has a good intervention. I remember a former student whose turn it was to present me in a lecture. He said, among other things, that I had opened up a whole new world for him. Hearing things like that makes us professors realize how much influence we can have, even if it is only in specific cases. To make a student love a part of the subject you explain is a great gift. Each teacher, each one of us, contributes a grain of sand, but all those grains added together are many.

Q. Do you have any particularly fond memories?

One of the things I have enjoyed the most are the field trips with the students because they are a great opportunity to get to know the students better and appreciate their qualities. For example, I remember one we did to Salamanca and Extremadura. On the trip I must have eaten something that made me sick, and the support I got from the other teachers who were on the trip and the understanding of the students was something very pleasant, a great memory.

This year I went with the students of Spanish Medieval Art History to visit the Loarre Castle and we all had lunch together in a cafeteria next to the castle. It was a very nice time, we were like a group of friends.

P. If you hadn't gone into teaching, what would you have liked to be?

I like the profession of museum curator very much, but I would have been a librarian, because I have always had a great passion for books. Heaven is a library with infinite books, a small garden next to it and by the sea.

But teaching is the most wonderful profession in the world. The health staff also has a good profession, but teaching, besides demanding vocation and solid knowledge, requires empathy and a real connection with the student body. In this sense I think I have been very fortunate: all my life I have loved students and, of course, Art History.