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| Spain’s Civil War Memorial, Valley of the Fallen and why it is Controversial |
Madrid is the capital city of Spain and is full of treasures to explore like the
Royal Palace of Madrid, and other famous Spanish squares like
Puerta del Sol and
Plaza Mayor, but other Spanish treasures are located just outside Madrid that make for a great day trip. One of those treasures is
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a monastery and royal site. The second site generally isn’t considered a Spanish treasure because it has so much controversy surrounding it. It is
Valle de Los Caídos or in English, the
Valley of the Fallen and is a monument and basilica dedicated to Spain’s Civil War.
Valle de los Caídos is Spain’s Civil War Memorial located in the Guadarrama Mountain Range (Sierra de Guadarrama), just outside of Madrid. It is about 14 km north of El Escorial and 68 km north of Madrid. It is a memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War and it is said there are over 45,000 civil war soldiers that are buried there now. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who commissioned the construction of this memorial was also buried underneath the altar of the basilica ever since his death in 1975, until October 24, 2019 when Franco’s body was exhumed and moved to Madrid. The memorial consists of a basilica, built into the mountain side, an abbey and a gigantic cross.
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