Coat of arms of the National University of San Marcos (left), the University of Puerto Rico (center) and Harvard University (right). In the horizontal body above the door, pilasters with fine grotesques divide a rectangular field into three areas that accommodate shields under arcs of three centers: the shield of the University of San Marcos of Peru on the left, in the center a shield representing the UPR, and to the right, the shield of Harvard University. The National University of San Marcos established in Lima, Peru in 1551, by "royal charter" of Carlos V King of Spain, is the oldest University of the Americas. Harvard, founded in 1636, is the oldest university in the United States. They represent the oldest universities in North and South America, of which the UPR aspired to inherit its centuries-old educational tradition.
Alan Levine
CC BY 2.0
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