USAL is the acronym commonly used for the University of Salamanca, an ancient university in Western Spain. Founded in 1218, it remains the oldest surviving establishment of this sort in the country, and the fourth-oldest university in the world. It’s a big faculty that accommodates over 30,000 students at a time.
The University of Salamanca was created in 1218 by the Spanish king Alfonso IX from an even older school. It was the leading establishment in the Hispanic world for many centuries for studying theology, economics, philosophy, sciences, cartography and many other subjects. The university prizes the diversity of its subjects even now.
What is USAL?
USAL, aka the University of Salamanca, is the oldest university in Spain and one of the oldest surviving universities in the world, surpassed only by Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge. It’s a public university that houses over 30,000 students and offers a wide spectrum of studies.
The university has an official seal it continues to use since times immemorial. It comes in various coloring versions, but the general layout has been the same for centuries.
This seal has a round shape, with most of its area covered by various coats of arms and other symbols. In its center is the image of the pope sitting in the Chair of Saint Peter with Bible in his left hand, pressed against the chest, and the staff with the cross of its edge in the right hand.
On the left and right, there are three more images per side. They include the coats of arms of Castile (a tower), Leon (a lion) and a picture of two cardinals. Each side has all three, in different order. Above all of these images is the coat of arms of Vatican: two crossed keys and the papal tiara atop.
This entire ensemble is the encircled by a ringlet on the outer layer of the seal. This layer includes the words in Latin, which translate to ‘a Salamanca university seal’.
The university has also had a logo since 2013, which depicts its name in Spanish. It’s written in two lines of red text. What is says exactly is ‘Univesidad D Salamanca’. The letters have a peculiar font, which tries to style itself as an old Medieval style with letters ‘U’ written as ‘V’ in the manner of the Latin script.
The 2013 logo uses a peculiar font that emulates the stylistic fonts used in the Medieval and early modern era. The characters vary wildly in size, have smooth, fluid strokes and have a generally hand-written look about them. This style is playing off the university’s fame as an ancient establishment.
USAL generally uses the color red in much of their branding. For branding and various other purposes, they often use the carmine shade, which is a darker hue of red. However, in their logotype they stick to a generic bright variety of red. The seal, meanwhile, is often just black and white.