On Friday we took a trip to Valle de los Caidos, which is just outside of Madrid. It is tucked away into these beautiful green mountains, I didn't even know existed that close to us. The mountains are littered with granite, lots of it. The monument of Los Caidos, is a 450 M. tall cross, and at the base of it a basilica built into the mountain. It is all granite, and was built to huge to make the human spectator feel small. The purpose of the monument is controversial. First some history. It was built between 1940 and 1958, by thousands of Spanish Republicans, which were POW's of General Fransisco Franco. The basilica built into the mountain is bigger than St. Peter's basilica in Rome, but was only half blessed because no basilica is allowed to bigger than that one. The granite that comprises the cross is the granite they blasted out for the basilica. Ok so to the theories. One is that the monument is built to all those that fell in the tragic civil war. The other is that it is a tribute to fascism and Franco. This is my conclusion, because the fascist insignia is on the front of the basilica and he and the founder of Falange Espanola( fascism) Jose Antonio de Riviera are buried in the basilica. I liked visiting this monument so much, whichever it's purpose. It was impressive and was in the prettiest setting. Another interesting detail I noticed was on the ceiling, they made the blocks to look like real parts of the cave, but they are just decorative, and the way they are arranged looks somewhat cubist, which was the popular art style in the 30's and 40's.
1 comment:
The rocks on the sides of the hill look like they have faces. It is kind of scary. Who does the wheelchair belong too???? What a cool building. XXOO
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