Casa de Velázquez is at once a centre for artistic creation and a research centre. It is this that gives it a unique place among the five French Schools abroad run by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research: the French School in Athens, the French School in Rome, the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in El Cairo and the French Middle East School. In fact Casa de Velázquez is unusual in that since its foundation in 1928 it has possessed an artistic section (equivalent to the Villa Medici in Rome) along with a scientific section—the École des hautes études hispaniques et ibériques (EHEHI). A public institution serving scientific, cultural and professional purposes, Casa de Velázquez's mission is to carry on creative activities and research relating to the arts, languages, literatures and societies of Spain and Iberian and Ibero-American countries. Its tasks also include assisting in the training of artists, researchers and teacher/researchers and taking part in the development of artistic and scientific exchanges between France and the other countries concerned.