The University of the Visayas was founded by the late Don Vicente Gullas in 1919 as the Visayan Institute (V.I.) in Cebu City. It was not until 1935 that the Visayan Institute moved to its present site in Colon St. The Second World War, however, razed to the ground the physical facilities of the VI but undaunted by adversities, Don Vicente Gullas reopened classes in Argao, Cebu in 1946. A year later the VI moved back to its present site in Colon Street where the buidings of its main campus now stand as a historical landmark in the City of Cebu.