Chapter 16 unbroken shells

The small town of Salamanca is very compact, no matter how you go, as long as you find the municipal square in the middle like an old square castle, you will never get lost.Almost all the streets stretch out from there. Every time I get a little confused when walking, I go back there and start again. However, for small European cities, you must not be so friendly.You think you know everything well, but in fact you probably haven't even touched the edge.Especially those small towns that only provide you with one or two bright spots, you should look at them differently.One or two bright spots are the simplicity after aging, behind which there are a large number of omitted articles.

The highlight of Salamanca's civic structure is the square, but the highlight of its spiritual structure is the university.The University of Salamanca has no walls, so it cannot form a superficial center. It is a certain department or subject of the university, and even all the souvenir shops in the city are selling items related to the university. Things become unfathomable as soon as it is connected with the university, not to mention the University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain.I once read in a history book that before Columbus set off on a long voyage, in order to further familiarize himself with the knowledge of astronomy closely related to navigation, he came to Salamanca and discussed with several learned monks. Professor at the University of Salamanca.Well, the little Salamanca was already an academic research center as early as the Columbus era. Before the Europeans discovered the New World, it had speculated and looked into the vast unknown world, and knew how to design routes from the height of astronomy.

Therefore, it is unspeakably small, large and boundless. Of course, it is impossible to find evidence for the specific whereabouts of Columbus here, but I am willing to walk among these comfortable streets with the state of mind of an adventurer before departure, thinking about how Anshi encourages adventure, and how the small streets covet the sea. While walking like this, I stopped suddenly, and saw a huge old building at a street corner, covered in quaint earth yellow, but the whole wall was carved with shells!The desire for the sea is so self-evident, and this desire is displayed with such style.I hurriedly asked two young students who looked like students, and they said that this building is called Shell House, which was built at the end of the 15th century and has been around for more than 500 years.I secretly calculated in my heart that it was the time when Columbus was preparing to set off.

There are steps to go up the shell house, and no one stops it.A few steps into it is a cave-like hall surrounded by ancient pillars.It was already dusk, the sky was gloomy, and the ancient pillars in the hall were even more gloomy, as if I had accidentally entered a chieftain's lair, a terrifying palace, but I knew in my heart that the name of this palace was time.There is a second floor in the hall, which is a long corridor, where there is some light, so that I can still distinguish objects and step on them lightly among the ancient pillars in the hall. There was a light in the front left, and it became brighter as it got closer, and people began to walk into a hall with modern facilities. Looking at the written sign, it turned out to be the public library of the University of Salamanca.Stretching out my head, I saw that many students were reading in the library, and only then did I realize that the shell house with ancient pillars that I passed through just now is the porch of this library.

Well, this library is really too ostentatious. Columbus would have come here.The University of Salamanca is not big, and the Shell House was newly built at that time, so there was no reason for him not to come.This nautical fan must be smiling when he sees the shells all over the wall, right? It is a miracle that the shells have not been broken and the ancient pillars have not collapsed for more than 500 years. The even bigger miracle is that after more than 500 years, they are still not enshrined in their own qualifications, but they are silently supported together to form a university library. The porch is like a generation of fathers who have been bearded and still cheerfully looking after the children's home and nursing home.

I guess the university authorities designed this so that all young students would walk through this porch every day, but I don't know how many students can understand that there is a huge symbol here.No book in the library today is as old as the shell on the wall, and the shell is only a signpost to a world older and unknown.Therefore, the brightly lit modern library is just a flicker of white foam, and the path of human beings seeking knowledge is still like the horror of no lights under the ancient pillars, and the longing for water on the old wall.Just wait, when today's self-righteous scholars are all out of history, this wall of shells will still not be broken.

The essence of European civilization is not on the page.