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CREATION
OF THE FOUNDATION
The history
of the "Real Diputaciσn San Andrιs de los Flamencos-Foundation Carlos
de Amberes" dates back to 1594, the year in which Charles
of Antwerp, a native of this city in the Duchy of Brabant, transferred
by public deed a series of buildings that on his death might serve as
shelter and lodging for the poor and pilgrims from the Seventeen Provinces
who were visiting Madrid. The establishment of the Hospital of St. Andrew
of the Flemish coincided with the founding of other private charity
institutions, especially set up for the members of the same nationality,
corporation or guild. On the death of Charles of Antwerp in 1604, the
Royal archer Miguel de Frene took it upon himself to implement the founder's
idea dedicating the new  Hospital,
temporarily set up in one of the bequeathed houses, to St. Andrew, patron
saint of the people of Burgundy.
In 1609, King Philip III accepted, by Royal Letters Patent, the patronage
of the "Diputaciσn" for himself and the King and Queen of Castille,
his successors, it being stipulated in the Constitutions, that were
ratified by Philip IV, that the "Diputaciσn" or Board that would govern
the Hospital should be made up of natives of the Seventeen Provinces
of Flanders or by their descendants.
In 1621, the architect, Juan Gσmez de Mora, was given the task of making
a new building in calle San Marcos that would lodge the Hospital and
church in which in 1638 the painting "The
martyrdom of Saint Andrew" was hung that Rubens had been commissioned
to paint by Jan Van Vuchr, one of the benefactors that with his legacies
and donations contributed to the fulfilment of the Foundation's charitable
aims. The 1798 Sale of Church Property Laws, that ordered the sale of
the assets of hospitals and workhouses, left the Foundation without
resources, causing a crisis that almost led to the disappearance of
the work of Charles of Antwerp and ended up with the caving in of the
church of St. Andrew in 1848.
The timely intervention of Belgian diplomats supporting the Hospital
of St. Andrew and the work of its Deputies seeking help from politicians
and the Crown bore results, and in 1877 the Princess of Asturias inaugurated
a new Church and Hospital in calle Claudio Coello, the place at which
the Foundation Carlos de Amberes has been located since then, now dedicated
to cultural activities after the adapting of its centenary Constitutions.
THE
REVIVAL
The Hospital of St. Andrew of the Flemish is one of those rare institutions
that has remained alive, after various vicissitudes, for more than four
hundred years as well as being able to develop a project for the future,
thanks to the determination of its Deputies. This change was speeded
up in 1988, when His Majesty the King was asked for permission to change
its aims and to transform its welfare nature into a charitable-cultural
one, more in line with modern times. The Statutes were modified on 22
January 1988 and the Foundation was enrolled in the Protectorate of
the Ministry of Culture as a non-profit making private Cultural Foundation.
 On
25 November 1992, Their Majesties Juan Carlos and Sofνa, in the presence
of King Baldouin I of the Belgians and Queen Fabiola, inaugurated the
restored and enlarged seat of the Foundation Carlos de Amberes, which
had been converted into one of the best managed cultural centres in
Madrid. From that time the Foundation has begun a new course aimed at
encouraging historical, cultural and scientific exchanges between Spain
and the former seventeen provinces of Flanders, territories which today
are part of Belgium, Luxembourg, The Low Countries and the north of
France.
Cultural activity takes the shape of multiple programmes, functions,
exhibitions, courses, seminars, concerts, series of lectures, book presentations
and the publicaction of its own titles. The Foundation's European disposition
is clear to see in the annual holding of a lecture in honour of its
founder, the Commemorative Lecture Charles of Antwerp, which has served
as a platform for outstanding personalities who have distinguished themselves
by their contributions to the building of the basic dimensions of European
unity. Thus it was with Alexandre Lamfalussy, Jacques Santer, Jean-Luc
Dehaene and Wim Kok, among others.
This task has been complemented with the organizing of a series of discussions
on the Intergovernmental Conference set up to prepare the Treaty of
Amsterdam, and the establishment at the Foundation of a library specialized
in the building of Europe. Moreover, the paintings "The Martyrdom of
St. Andrew", a work by Peter Paul Rubens, painted c1635, and "The Second
Marquis of Casa Riera" by Raimundo de Madrazo, donated by Queen Fabiola
in 1997, are on permanent display and can be visited by the public.
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