The Valley of the Fallen is a monumental complex located in the Madrid town of San Lorenzo del Escorial. One of its main elements is the Cross of the Valley of the Fallen. The complex has been part of the National Heritage since its opening, which took place on April 1, 1959.
Francisco Franco ordered its construction, and he was buried there next to José Antonio Primo de Rivera up until his exhumation last October. The burial place of Spain's fascist dictator General Francisco Franco had been the subject of fierce debate for decades. But the final chapter arrived on 24 October 2019. The government exhumed and moved Franco's remains to a cemetery in Madrid. But why were there calls for Franco's remains to be moved in the first place? And why has the issue proved so controversial?
Franco ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. He was buried in a mausoleum within the Valley of the Fallen, leading to the site becoming a shrine for the far-right and thus loathed by many Spaniards. Spain's socialist government wanted the Valley of the Fallen to become "a place of commemoration, remembrance and homage to the victims of the war". It saw the presence of Franco's remains there as an affront to a mature democracy.
Many descendants of Franco's victims supported the idea of burying his remains elsewhere. But the issue has largely split public opinion across Spain.
Last August, despite objections from his closest family and the right-wing parties, the government approved the exhumation. It wanted to find a more low-key burial place where the dictator's followers would find it harder to pay tribute but also distance the dictator from the bodies of so many fallen soldiers.
Now he is not there, the Government has taken a further step just this week. Their intention is to make the priests leave the priory and for it to become a civil burial ground. This now leads on to the next discussion, if they want the complex to be a civil burial ground what do you do with the cross? The debate has started and some are pushing for it to be demolished. The cross is without a doubt one of the most remarkable features of the Valley of the Fallen. It stands just above the Basilica. It is the highest Christian Cross in the world measuring 150m from the base. At the foot of the Cross, we can observe the statues of the four evangelists, as well as the symbols that correspond to each of them: Luke and the bull, Matthew and the winged man, John and the eagle, and Mark and the lion. As for the arms of the cross, they measure 46.40 meters each and it is possible to see it more than 40 kilometres away.
Inside there is an elevator that allows you to go up to the top. The Cross of the Fallen was made of reinforced concrete and covered with berrugo masonry and carved stone. To put its height into perspective, the Cross of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro is just 38m tall from the base, the Statue of Liberty is 93m from the base and St Paul's Cathedral is 111m to the tip of the main spire.
Given the magnitude of the construction and that it is a symbol of religious faith, do you think that it should be demolished because its construction was ordered by Franco? Please cast your vote.