Héctor was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He obtained a B.A. in Architecture and Humanities and an M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, New York City, and in 1996 he studied at Rome’s International Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. He returned to Puerto Rico to become Executive Director of Heritage Programs at the Institute of Culture, and then worked independently on research projects for historical and archaeological sites in the Caribbean. In 2003 he moved to Madrid, where he is currently working on his PhD thesis in Colonial Latin American History. Héctor has taught undergraduate courses in the History and Theory of Historic Preservation, Spanish and Latin American History, and Spanish Culture and Civilization at universities in Puerto Rico and Spain. He has a particular passion for Spanish cities and fortifications of the Middle and Early Modern ages. Héctor speaks Spanish and English fluently, and has an intermediate level of Italian.

Barbara Perucka has been living for more than five years in Madrid. She earned her Ph.D. in Art History, as well as her Bachelor’s degree in Italian Philology, at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). Her research interests focus on medieval painting, art at European courts, and travel literature. Her doctoral thesis was dedicated to the decoration of a French manuscript "Livre des merveilles" (Book of Wonders, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. fr. 2810). She has published papers about late medieval tapestries and medieval illustrated accounts of a journey, and was a professor of art history at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Nebrija University in Madrid. She also received several research grants in Paris, Dijon, Vienna, Pisa and Brussels.

Chris Kostov is a lecturer in history and international relations at Schiller International University Madrid, Spain. He obtained his Ph.D. in history from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 2010. He has specialized in modern European history, ethnic nationalism and Canadian Studies. Dr. Kostov is the author of 2 books, 1 e-book and a number of academic and encyclopedia articles dealing with a wide range of topics from modern Balkan history to Canadian immigration policy and Native American cultures. His diverse interests allow Chris to see Madrid from different angles. He is especially interested in the ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity of the city as well as the history of Madrid and Spain starting from pre-Roman times.