Across Madrid is a concept designed by Dr. Almudena Cros. Almudena was born in Madrid and earned her degrees at the prestigious University of Warwick in England. She holds a B.A. (Hons) in History of Art, a Master of Arts in Venetian Art History, and a PhD in Late Medieval Art History. Her doctoral thesis analyzed the artistic patronage of 14th-century cardinals in Italy, France and Spain, and she undertook her research in numerous archives and libraries across Rome, the Vatican, Bologna, Avignon, Oxford, London, Paris, and Toledo, with funding from the University of Warwick. Her academic publications focus on Trecento art in Spain and Italy.After having studied and worked in England, Germany, and Italy, Dr. Cros now lives in the Guadarrama mountains (northwest of Madrid) with her Irish husband and their two young children.
Almudena has a wide range of teaching experience: she taught History of Art at Saint Louis University in Madrid, and she was the History of Art professor at Suffolk University campus in Madrid for 13 years (2011-2014). While teaching undergraduate students was important for her professional career, she has always specifically enjoyed introducing Art to children. Almudena worked at CaixaForum Madrid as a family workshop art history docent in 2009 and designed and led children-friendly itineraries for leading tour companies before launching her own company in 2014, Across Madrid. She also led academic trips and visits in Italy and Spain for students from Warwick University (England), Georgia Southern University and Marietta College (USA), Notre Dame University (Australia), and the European Center for Jewish Students (Brussels), as well as for secondary school students from the Scuola Media Statale Italo Calvino in Piacenza (Italy) and high school students from France and Denmark.
Dr. Cros has also designed and taught the intensive summer course for postgraduate Interior Design students on Spanish Art and Architecture at Suffolk University’s Madrid campus and has taught Art History and History of the Spanish Civil War at the renowned Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo in Santander. She is involved in organizing commemorative events and ceremonies related to the International Brigades in Spain and England, and she has taken part as a consultant, interviewer, and interpreter in numerous projects and documentaries related to the Spanish Civil War.
Dr. Cros worked briefly as a cultural contributor on national Spanish radio SER and she has recently been featured on BBC4 radio and UK-based Channel 5 Michael Portillo´s Long Weekends Series (2024, Episode 1: Madrid)