TY - JOUR
T1 - When the Elites Began Going to the Gym
T2 - The Professional and Social Spaces of the First Hygienic Gymnasiums in Madrid, 1860–69
AU - Torrebadella-Flix, Xavier
AU - Rivero-Herraiz, Antonio
AU - Sánchez-García, Raúl
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In order to analyse the origins of modern gyms in Spain, it is crucial to look to the mid-nineteenth century, focusing particularly on those cities that experienced the greatest urban and economic growth. These cities witnessed the creation of new spaces related to the different gymnastic disciplines (artistic, medical, orthopaedic, recreational, hygienic, and pedagogical). A few primitive gymnasiums governed by empiricist experts in gymnastics (empíricos gimnasiarcas), which, under the medical supervision of doctors, promised to cure all manner of afflictions, sprang up. Many of these edifices sprang up in Madrid during the period 1860–1869, a decade that marked a defining moment in the origins of modern Spanish gymnastics. An analysis of the technical-professional and social spaces in which these exercises took place, the so-called hygienic gymnasium, reveals that these gymnasiums were an important meeting point for social and moral reformers among Spain’s elite classes.
AB - In order to analyse the origins of modern gyms in Spain, it is crucial to look to the mid-nineteenth century, focusing particularly on those cities that experienced the greatest urban and economic growth. These cities witnessed the creation of new spaces related to the different gymnastic disciplines (artistic, medical, orthopaedic, recreational, hygienic, and pedagogical). A few primitive gymnasiums governed by empiricist experts in gymnastics (empíricos gimnasiarcas), which, under the medical supervision of doctors, promised to cure all manner of afflictions, sprang up. Many of these edifices sprang up in Madrid during the period 1860–1869, a decade that marked a defining moment in the origins of modern Spanish gymnastics. An analysis of the technical-professional and social spaces in which these exercises took place, the so-called hygienic gymnasium, reveals that these gymnasiums were an important meeting point for social and moral reformers among Spain’s elite classes.
KW - acrobatic gymnastics
KW - Gymnasium
KW - hygienic gymnastics
KW - medical gymnastics
KW - orthopaedic gymnastics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077019847&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09523367.2019.1691531
DO - 10.1080/09523367.2019.1691531
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85077019847
VL - 36
JO - International Journal of the History of Sport
JF - International Journal of the History of Sport
SN - 0952-3367
IS - 15-16
ER -