El legado de paz de Francisco Vitoria en la obra de Luciano Pereña.

Arte y promoción educativa de los derechos humanos en el mural de José María Sert y Badía, en la Sala del Consejo de la Liga de las Naciones, La Haya, Ginebra

Abstract

The commemoration of 800 years of University of Salamanca, triggered a series of discussions, exhibitions, events and publications throughout the world, especially in Latin America. Within this framework, one of these initiatives was linked both to the recovery of the work of Francisco de Vitoria, and to the Spanish professor and historian Luciano Pereño (1920-2007) who, proposing the notion of “dynamic peace for the 21st century”, sought project the work of Vitoria to this new century. As is known, this historical-legal course, originated in the Spanish presence in America, already with the work of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, triggered agitated and intense reflections and discussions within the Salmantina School since the end of the 16th century, decisively influencing the establishment of the bases of what is today the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of ONU and its mission. In his work, Pereña summarizes and proposes twelve principles of Vitoria’s work, which seek to project the influence of these values in present 21st century. In addition, Pereña dedicated himself to the revision and compilation of the most extensive codex on the American presence in the New World, known as the “Corpus Hispanorum de Pace”, which consists of an inventory of sources and documents, mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries, directed by Pereña himself at University of Salamanca, which are key to historical interpretation of this period. Along with this monumental work, in his notes and personal studies, noted down and recovered by the author, shortly before Pereña’s death during his tutorial studies, a small and special study is presented, to enhance the value of the painter’s work. Spanish Josep María Sert y Badìa in the Mural of 1936, titled: “The 5 Colossi”, which stands out for its high allegorical and symbolic charge of human history, as well as for its humanist-modernist sense, and which is still in the Room of the Council of the League of Nations (Francisco Vitoria Room) in Geneva, The Hague.