El gimnasio moderno en España y Francia. Una relación franco-española equidistante y divergente en el siglo XIX

As part of the history of physical exercise, the figures of Francisco Amor s, Hip lito Triat, Eugenio Paz y Vicente L pez Tamayo laid the empirical and social foundations in France and Spain for 19th century modern gymnastics and bodily culture. The Franco-Spanish connection between these four pioneers is sufficient reason to acknowledge their personal merits and, also, to investigate the origins of contemporary bodily culture and the social ties between these countries. A review of primary sources of the time in both countries helps to connect the historical moment empirically with the subsequent inference from the critical hermeneutics used. While, on the one hand, republican France was one of the focal points of the 19th century gymnastics movement and used gymnastics to bind together a collective national consciousness, monarchic Spain, on the other hand, was unable and unwilling to face the political and social challenges of that moment in history and use gymnastics as a tool for instilling a national cohesion into the masses.