Indian Chief Travel Guides

Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos

The deadly effects of the Spanish Civil War didn’t necessarily end with the Nationalist victory. In the 1940s, General Franco ordered construction of what was meant to be a monument to the war and those who perished with it. What transpired during the 20 years of construction was a vainglorious affair for the dictator, a ghastly one for the prisoners of the Republic forced to the brutal task of excavating the subterranean basilica out of solid granite. When the monument of the Valley of the Fallen was finally complete, a granite cross, sided with sculptures by Juan de Avalos, rose over 150 m (500 feet) above natural rocky spires and the ostentatious basilica below. Inside, the high altar and the flanking chapel walls served to seal off the many thousand common urns belonging to the Republican (some of whom met their fate working here) and Nationalist soldiers.

It seems that somewhere along the way Franco’s true convictions came to light. A tour of the long, cavernous basilica confirms the sentiment; the walk leads past leering fascist angels and prophetic tapestries to the high altar, behind which Franco’s grave is inconspicuously strewn with flowers and, not by sheer coincidence, is the obvious focal point for the visitor. In front of the altar, which is set directly beneath the cross outside, is the grave of another principal leader of the Nationalist movement, that of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, whose Falange party came to embody the fascism of Franco’s doctrine.