Calling for Contestants – 1001 Places to Remember [An Archisteem Project]/My Entry

I want to start by thanking @kimzwarch for this interesting contest. When I read the rules of the contest and saw that it consisted of writing about a place that, for some reason, has been important in our lives, I was very excited to participate and I never doubted where that place was.

My dear steemian friends, I am going to tell you about the Central University of Venezuela, my beloved "Alma Mater", the "House that overcomes the shadows". But here's why I love this place so much that it definitely changed my life forever.

To give you an idea, I can begin by saying that the Central University is the oldest public university in my country (founded in 1721) and also has a long history of teaching, research and university extension activities (i.e., those that take place outside the university campus, providing a direct service to the communities).

The Central University had several branches in the city of Caracas, but between 1940 and 1960 its main headquarters was designed by the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and is located in the San Pedro Parish of the municipality of Libertador, in the Los Chaguaramos sector of Caracas, Venezuela, with a constructed area of 164.22 hectares (1.64 km2) and land that reaches 202.53 hectares. It is also important to note that in 2001 the Central University was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, becoming the first university campus in Latin America to receive this honor, which was awarded not only for its long history in education, but also for the beauty of its architecture and urban and architectural landscapes.

It turns out that I started my career at the Central University of Venezuela when I was just 17 years old, I chose to study Social Work, because for me it is the most beautiful career that exists, because it gives you the opportunity to help many people in need. And all those beautiful moments that I lived in my beloved University while I was studying my career, I will never forget them. My career allowed me to be in contact with abandoned children, with very poor people who barely had enough to live on, with communities in very precarious conditions, but it allowed me to always give the best of myself to help those who needed it the most and I received this formation in this beautiful and humane career at my beloved Central University.

I remember that he always walked very quickly to get to class early and the enormous and beautiful clock located in the Plaza del Rectorado, would ring its bells to tell us all the "ucevistas" (that's what we call those of us who live together at the Central University), the time and guarantee the punctuality of both teachers and students! This clock in the Plaza del Rectorado of the University, is an icon, because there is no other like it in my country. It is a 25-meter high tower, built in 1953 with the design of the renowned architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva in a joint project with the engineer Juan Otaola Paván. The structure retains its original electricity and sound systems dating from the 1950s. Its three bases symbolize art, architecture and academia. Here is a picture of my beloved clock located in the famous Rector's Square of the Central University:

Another place I remember fondly from my beloved university is the Central Library. In that place I spent many hours of my youth reading many books, because the professors sent us to investigate and, as in opportunities I could not buy the books, I always ended up in my beloved library researching and reading. In that place, between books and more books, I was intellectually formed, I prepared myself (without knowing it at the time), for what life had in store for me later on. This is the Library building, a little damaged by the passage of time, but just as beautiful. I hope someday I can show you pictures of what it's like inside:

From the balcony of the reading room located on the first floor of the Central Library, you can appreciate this beautiful view. The expanse of land they see is called "No Man's Land," which the students baptized many years ago to imply that it belongs to no one in particular, but to all members of the university community. There we rested on the grass when we had the chance. The mountain in the background is the Ávila, the beautiful hill that surrounds the city of Caracas and is our vegetable lung. I simply cannot explain in words all that my soul feels when my steps walk this place again. It's too beautiful.... you definitely have to live it to know how it feels.

(All the pictures are mine).

But the most beautiful thing about this story, and so that you can understand why Central University is so important to me, is that (although I never planned it that way) life allowed me to be a professor at my beloved university. You can imagine the great joy that this meant for me and the love that I dedicate to my classes, because I feel that there is no money how to pay my beloved Central University for all the knowledge and beautiful experiences I had there.

Today, twenty years later, I am still walking quickly, listening to the bells of my beloved clock in the Plaza del Rectorado, to arrive on time to give my class to those I have had the joy of having as students. I keep walking through "No Man's Land", and although I don't lie down on the grass anymore, I do see my students there and they remind me of myself when I was that age....
Ah! And of course, I send my students to learn research books that they will find in my beloved Central Library....

These are then the magnificent memories that this beautiful place brings to my memory. I hope you liked it. Many thanks and a thousand blessings to those who have the courtesy to visit this publication.
Many thanks again to @kimzwarch because I definitely cried with emotion as I wrote. Beautiful contest indeed. If you wish to participate in this contest click here