Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos
Encyclopedia
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
and a monumental memorial in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Mount Abantos and Las Machotas, from Madrid. It is head of the...
, erected at Cuelgamuros Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama
Sierra de Guadarrama
The Sierra de Guadarrama is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges at the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the Sierra de Gredos in the province of Ávila, and Sierra de Ayllón in the province of Guadalajara...
, near Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, conceived by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
to honour and bury those who fell during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. It was also claimed by Franco that the monument was meant to be a "national act of atonement".
The monument, a landmark of 20th-century Spanish architecture, was designed by Pedro Muguruza and Diego Méndez on a scale to equal, according to Franco, "the grandeur of the monuments of old, which defy time and forgetfulness". Together with the Universidad Laboral de Gijón, it is the most prominent example of the original Spanish Neo-Herrerian style, which was intended as a revival of Juan de Herrera
Juan de Herrera
Juan de Herrera was a Spanish architect, mathematician and geometrician.One of the most outstanding Spanish architects in the 16th century, Herrera represents the peak of the Renaissance in Spain. His sober style was fully developed in buildings like the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial...
's late renaissance architecture, exemplified in El Escorial. This uniquely Spanish architecture was widely used in public buildings of post-war Spain and is rooted in International classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
exemplified by Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
or Mussolini's Esposizione Universale Roma
Esposizione Universale Roma
EUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, located south of the city center. The area was originally chosen in 1930s as the site for the 1942 world's fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism. EUR was also designed to direct the expansion of...
.
The monument precinct encloses over 3360 acres (13.6 km²) of Mediterranean woodlands and granite boulders on the Sierra de Guadarrama hills, over 3000 feet (914.4 m) over sea level where stand the Basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
, the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Abbey, the Hospedería, the Valley and the ‘Juanelos,’ four cylindrical monoliths dating from the 16th century. The most prominent feature of the monument is the towering 150-meter-high (500 ft) cross erected over a granite outcrop 150 meters over the basilica esplanade and visible from over 20 miles (32.2 km) away.
Work started in 1940 and took over eighteen years to complete, the monument being officially inaugurated on April 1, 1958. According to the official ledger, the cost of the construction totalled 1.159 billion pesetas, funded through National Lottery draws and donations.
As a surviving artifact of Franco's rule, the monument and its Catholic basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
remain controversial, particularly because 10% of the construction workforce were convicts, some of them Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
prisoners.
The complex is owned and operated by the Patrimonio Nacional
Patrimonio Nacional
The Consejo de Administración del Patrimonio Nacional is a Spanish state agency, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Presidency by delegation of the Prime Minister of Spain, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish...
, the Spanish governmental heritage agency, and ranked as the third most visited monument of the Patrimonio Nacional in 2009. The Spanish socialist government closed the complex to visitors at the end of 2009, basing the decision on safety reasons connected to restoration on the facade. Controversy arose upon this decision, as the closure was attributed by part of the public opinion to the "Memoria Historica" law enacted during president Zapatero's mandate, as supported by some media. Other media support that the abbey monks are misinterpreting the closure due to restoration works with a political decision. The works include the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
sculpture prominently featured at the entrance of the crypt, using hammers and heavy machinery.
In November, 2010, alleging safety reasons, the Spanish government closed down the Basilica for Mass. Mass was celebrated in the open during several weeks; with an attendance of 3.000 faithful, in a rainy day on November 14. Checkpoints were set up, according to government sources, to prevent political manifestations such as Falange flags, in accordance to the Law of "Memoria Histórica". However, Catholic sources claimed that the government was simply trying to interfere with the celebration of the Mass.
Basilica, cross and abbey
Cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...
in the world, a 152.4-metre-high construction of stone which strongly resembles the ancient stone or granite open air outdoor crosses of Kerala known as Nazraney Sthambas.
In 1960, Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
declared the underground crypt a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
. The dimensions of the underground basilica, as excavated, are larger than those of St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
in Rome. To avoid competition, a partitioning wall was built near the inside of the entrance and a sizable entryway was left unconsecrated.
The monumental hieratic sculptures over the main gate and the base of the cross culminated the career of Juan de Ávalos
Juan de Ávalos
Juan de Ávalos y García-Taborda was a Spanish sculptor....
. The monument consists of a wide explanada (esplanade) with a spectacular view of the valley and the outskirts of Madrid in the distance. A long vaulted crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
was tunnelled out of solid granite, piercing the mountain to the massive transept, which lies exactly below the cross.
On the wrought-iron gates, Franco's neo-Habsburg double-headed eagle
Double-headed eagle
The double-headed eagle is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. It is most commonly associated with the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. In Byzantine heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and...
is prominently displayed. On entering the basilica, visitors are flanked by two large metal statues of art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
angels holding swords.
There is a funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
that connects the basilica with the base of the cross. There is a spiral staircase and a lift inside the cross, connecting the top of the basilica dome to a trapdoor on top of the cross, but their use is restricted to maintenance staff.
The Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Abbey of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen , on the other side of the mountain, houses priests who say perpetual Masses for the repose of the fallen. The abbey ranks as a Royal Monastery.
Valley of the Fallen
The valley that contains the monument, preserved as a national park, is located 10 km northeast of the royal site of El EscorialEl Escorial
The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
, northwest of Madrid. Beneath the valley floor lie the remains of 40,000, whose names are accounted for in the monument's register.
Although the valley contains both Nationalist
Spanish State
Francoist Spain refers to a period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975 when Spain was under the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco....
and Republican
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
graves, the tone of the monument is distinctly Nationalist and anti-Communist, containing the inscription "¡Caídos por Dios y por España!" ("Fallen for God and Spain!"), reflecting the close ties of Franco's Nationalist regime to the Catholic Church.
Additionally, the timing of Franco's announcement of the decision to create the monument suggests one side is being commemorated more than the other: on 1 April 1940, the day of the victory parade to celebrate the first anniversary of his triumph over the Republic, Franco announced his personal decision to raise a splendid monument to those who had fallen in his cause.
The Basilica became then more consensual. Pope John XXIII declared it Minor Basilica the Church of Santa Cruz. "En este monte sobre el que se eleva el signo de la redención humana ha sido excavado una inmensa cripta, de modo que en sus entrañas se abre amplísimo templo, donde se ofrecen sacrificios expiatorios y continuos sufragios por los caídos de la Guerra Civil de España. Y allí acabados los padecimientos, terminados los trabajos, y aplacadas las luchas, duermen juntos el sueño de la paz, a la vez que se ruega sin cesar por toda la Nación Española". 4/24/11
Franco's tomb
In 1975, after Franco's death, the site was designated by the interim government as the burial place for the CaudilloCaudillo
Caudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic...
, who actually did not desire to be buried in the valley, but in Madrid. Unlike the fallen of the Civil War who were laid to rest in the valley exterior to the basilica, Franco was buried inside the church. His grave is marked by a simple tombstone engraved with his name, on the choir side of the main altar (between the altar and the apse of the Church; behind the altar, from the perspective of a person standing at the main door).
Franco was the second person buried in the Santa Cruz basilica. Franco had earlier interred José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
, founder of the Falange
Falange
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
, the Spanish fascist party that aided his ascension to power, under a modest gravestone on the nave side of the altar. Primo de Rivera died November 20, 1936, exactly 39 years before Franco, whose grave is in the corresponding position on the other side of the altar.
A somewhat Controversial Monument
Presenting the monument in a politically neutral way poses a number of problems, not least the strength of opposing opinions on the issue. The Times quotes Jaume Bosch, a far-left politician seeking to change the monument, as saying:"I want what was in reality something like a Nazi concentration camp to stop being a nostalgic place of pilgrimage for Francoists. Inevitably, whether we like it or not, it's part of our history. We don’t want to pull it down, but the Government has agreed to study our plan."
The charge that the monument site was "like a Nazi concentration camp" refers to the use of convicts, including Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
war prisoners, trading their labour for a conviction redemption: "The drilling of the Risco de la Nava was undertaken by San Roman, an affiliate of the incumbent construction company Agroman. The workforce was provided by the despair and hardship of the post war period. These were joined by Republican prisoners who were promised a conviction redemption for risking their lives working on the monument construction [...], which in 1943 amounted to six hundred. Other souces point out up to 20.000 prisoners and speak about forced labour.
The 1940 Spanish law did not allow for forced labour, but recognized the possibility of voluntarily redeeming two days of conviction for each working day to reduce the burden of a large convict population that included many war and political prisoners. This benefit was increased to six days when labour was carried out at the basilica with a salary of 7 pesetas per day, a fairly reasonable salary for that time, with the possibility of the family of the convict benefiting from the housing and children schools built on the valley for the other workers. Only convicts with a good behaviour record would qualify for this redemption scheme, as the works site was considered to be a low security environment. The motto used by the Spanish Nationalist government was "el trabajo enoblece" ("work ennobles").
According to the official programme records, 2,643 workers participated directly in the construction, some of them highly skilled, as required by the complexity of the work. 243 of them were convicts. During the eighteen-year construction period, the official tally of workers who died as result of accidents during the building of the monument totalled fourteen.
Since 2004 the left-leaning Spanish government, which has been following a policy of the removal of Francoist symbols from public buildings and spaces, has had an uneasy relationship with a monument that is the most conspicuous legacy from Franco's rule.
Political rallies in celebration of the former dictator are now banned by the Law of Historical Memory, voted on by the Congress of Deputies on 16 October 2007. This law dictated that "the management organisation of the Valley of the Fallen should aim to honour the memory of all of those who died during the civil war and who suffered repression".
It has been suggested that The Valley of the Fallen be re-designated as a "monument to Democracy" or as a memorial to all Spaniards killed in conflict "for Democracy". Some organisations, among them centrist Catholic groups, question the purpose of these plans, on the basis that the monument is already dedicated to all of the dead, civilian and military of both Nationalist and Republican sides.
Closure of the monument
In November 2009, Patrimonio NacionalPatrimonio Nacional
The Consejo de Administración del Patrimonio Nacional is a Spanish state agency, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Presidency by delegation of the Prime Minister of Spain, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish...
controversially ordered the closure of the basilica for an indefinite period of time, alleging preservation issues which also may affect the Cross and some sculptures. These allegations have been contested by experts and the religious community that lives in the complex, and had been seen by some conservative opinion groups as a policy of harassment against the monument. In 2010, the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
sculpture group started to be "dismantled" with hammers and heavy machinery, which according to the Juan de Avalos
Juan de Ávalos
Juan de Ávalos y García-Taborda was a Spanish sculptor....
trust may result in irreparable damage of the masterpiece. As result, the trust has filed several lawsuits against Spanish government
. Several parallelisms has been made between the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
and the Buddhas of Bamyan
Buddhas of Bamyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters...
by liberal and conservative groups. On the other hand, Spanish government followers assert that this process is fair to socialists, communists, and anarchists fallen during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
In Popular Culture
The Valle de los Caídos appears in Richard Morgan's 2002 novel Altered CarbonAltered Carbon
Altered Carbon is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. Set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings, it features protagonist Takeshi Kovacs...
, where it is being used as a base of operations for one of the major antagonists, Reileen Kawahara.
It also appears in the 2010 Spanish comedy terror film The Last Circus (Spanish: Balada triste de trompeta).
There is also a large reference to this monument and the labourours who built it in Victoria Hislop's book The Return.A number of rock crosses, free standing - open air - outdoor stone crosses are to be found in Kerala churches of S. India, many of them from pre-Portuguese times which look exactly like the Valle de los Caidos rock cross but much smaller, of a height of 15 to 35 feet. But it is possible that these free standing pillars or Nazraney Sthambas employing the socket and cylinder technique to fit the shaft to the base piece and the arms to the shaft and finally the capital to the arms - altogether a four-piece work of precise architecture may have influenced the Spannish missionaries and scholars.
External links
- WAIS Forum on Spain, 2003: "Spain: the Valley of the Fallen": includes quote from Franco's decree, April 1, 1940
- Abadía de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos: Official Website .
- El Valle de los Caidos:
- Fundacion Francisco Franco, Valle de los Caidos: from Franco's Memorial Trust
- Valley of the Fallen: visitor information and photos
- Cruz de los Caídos drawings and plans from the architectural website skyscraperpage.com
- The Valley of the Fallen: History and Photos.
- "Manifesto for historians regarding the Valley of the Fallen" by Pio Moa, leading Spanish historian about the construction of the monument and the alleged government policy of harassment