LA SOCIEDAD GIMNÁSTICA ESPAÑOLA Y LOS INICIOS DE LA EDUCACIÓN FÍSICA: UNA IDEA, UN PROYECTO, UNA REALIDAD (1887-1937)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to develop a research about Spanish Gymnastic Society (SGE, Sociedad Gimnastica Espanola), founded in 1887. We seek to explain the importance of this Society in the implantation and development of Physical Education and Sports in Spain. The RSGE rose with a clear objective: to bring the practice of Physical Education and sports to every social class of the population, during a period in which physical practices among people were just reduced to some aristocratic gyms and sports were reserved to the most privileged classes of society. SGE took Physical Education as an element of Regenerationism that, as a political idea, was earning presence among urban middle class. SGE was a pioneer in spreading physical practices in XIX-XX century’s Madrid, bringing forward a very important activity, until it disappears in 1937. SGE’s archives were destroyed during Civil War, a fact that stresses the importance of rebuilding its history.