Casa Árabe, awarded with the “Plaza de la Constitución” Prize
Awarded by the Sub-delegation of the Government in Cordoba upon the 36th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution
December 05, 2014
CóRDOBA
Juan José Primo Jurado gave out the ninth “Plaza de la Constitución” Awards, on the occasion of the Thirty-Sixth Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution.
This Thursday at the Sub-delegation’s headquarters, the Sub-delegate of the Government in Cordoba, Juan José Primo Jurado, gave out the ninth “Plaza de la Constitución” Awards, on the occasion of the Thirty-Sixth Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. They were awarded to Casa Árabe, the Cordoba Soccer Team and Cordoba lawyer Francisco Muñoz Usano.
More specifically, Casa Árabe of Cordoba, located in the Casa Mudéjar (15th-16th centuries), a former property of the Cathedral Council, was the site of Cordoba’s Archeological Museum in the early twentieth century and is currently owned by the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia. The Casa Árabe headquarters was officially opened on September 15, 2011.
Casa Árabe and its International Institute of Arab and Islamic World Studies has two headquarters, one in Madrid and another in Cordoba. It is a consortium that was established on July 6, 2006 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency, the autonomous regional governments of Madrid and Andalusia, and the municipal governments of Madrid and Cordoba.
Most notable amongst its main activities are the holding of cultural events and social debates, as well as contributing to the strengthening and consolidation of the multi-faceted relationship with Arab and Muslim countries through political institutions and economic, cultural and intellectual media, becoming a role model for the study and knowledge of the reality and history of these countries.
Similarly, it wishes to perform the task of spreading information about Arab and Muslim realities throughout Europe and the West, and vice versa. All of this occurs within a framework of institutional cooperation and interaction so that Casa Árabe may act as a bridge for communication and relationships between all of these societies. With this objective in mind, Casa Árabe constantly has a major cultural agenda on offer, including exhibitions, conferences, debates, film screenings, performances, book presentations, and much more.
As for the Cordoba Soccer Team, the Sub-delegation pointed out that, though the team’s history dates back to the 1920’s, the origin of the current Cordoba Soccer Team as such is the result of bringing together two former teams: the Club Deportivo Córdoba and San Álvaro. This merger took place on August 6, 1954.
Amongst its most noteworthy achievements have been its rise into the Second Division of Spain’s Soccer League in the season of 1955-56, a year in which it had as many as 10,000 members. It would take until the season of 1961-62 for the Córdoba CF to make its leap up into the First Division after defeating the Recreativo de Huelva team on its own turf.
It returned to the Second Division in the 1968-69 season, and stayed their for two further seasons. Then in 1970-71, it made its way back into the First Division. Last summer, the Cordoba Soccer Team returned to First Division, after 42 years, after a victory against UD Las Palmas.
Meanwhile, Francisco Muñoz Usano, a lawyer from Cordoba, formed part of the Muñoz Abogados law firm, founded in 1950. With a degree in Law, he holds university specializations in Business, Criminology, Security Management, Legal Practice and Higher European Studies.
He is a professor at the School of Law and has performed teaching tasks with the Institute of Criminology, the National Police Force, the Guardia Civil Corps, the Local Police and the Ministry of Defense and in university courses for the National Security and Intelligence Directorate (CNI).
From 1991 to 1993, he was the President of the Spanish Federation of Security Businesses, and he also formed part of the Olympic Organizing Committee for the Barcelona Games of 1992 and the National Private Security Commission of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. He was the president of the Spanish Security Law Society, president of the First National Private Security Congress and a member of the Governing Board of the University of Cordoba.
In October 2006, he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Guardia Civil for his work as part of legal advisory commissions on citizen participation, and in October 2012, he was awarded the Distinguished Cross of the Order of San Raimundo de Peñafort, for his full professional career. In 2011, he was named an expert member of the Private and Public Security Commission, under the State Secretariat of Security. In July 2013, he was awarded with a distinction from the Royal Order of Civil Merit for his work providing counsel and training to the Local Police.
CIVIL MERIT AND FLAGS
Likewise, the Cross of the Order of Civil Merit was awarded to policeman Rafael Díaz Codes, stationed at the Local Police Department of Lucena and Cabra. And the Golden Cross for Constancy in Service was awarded to Guardia Civil agent Juan Jesús Barea Mérida.
Moreover, the entities which received the flag were the municipal governments of Zuheros, Castro del Río, Espejo and San Sebastián de los Ballesteros; the “Chari Navarro” Civic Center in the Alcolea neighborhood; the Rowing Club of Cordoba; the Real Círculo de la Amistad; the Santo Ángel school; the Cordoba Autism Association; the Cervantes school; the Joaquín Tena Artigas CEIP, in the Alcolea neighborhood, and the Peña Azahara of Cordoba.
