A court has ordered a halt to building work in the crypts of the basilica at Spain's Valle de los Caídos - the "Valley of the Fallen", the controversial memorial built during the Franco dictatorship, in which 33,000 victims of the civil war are buried. An interim injunction was granted to suspend the building permit granted by the San Lorenzo del Escorial city council to Spain's National Heritage department to rehabilitate the accesses to the crypts, following a legal suit presented by the Association for Reconciliation and Historical Truth.
The Madrid court adopted this interim measure before making a complete study of the appeal filed by the association, considering it possible that irreparable damage could occur of the work went ahead. The association requested the suspension, alleging the "fundamental right to privacy of the dead and their families," which they say would be violated if the planned works were executed.
Spanish government project
The project of which the works are part was initiated by the current Socialist government, and specifically under the former deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo. The current application asserted that the construction is necessary for access to the inner passage to the different levels of the crypts.
The Spanish government, through National Heritage, applied to the local council in April for planning permission to begin the work of exhumation and identification of the victims who were buried in the crypts of the Basilica of the Holy Cross, in the Valle de los Caídos who have been claimed by their relatives.
Safety measures
The works being carried out under the current permit were centred on health and safety measures: the removal or dismantling of walls and installations for access to the crypts; the creation of accesses; the improvement of lighting and safety installations, and the adoption of measures to guarantee structural safety for the internal inspection of each of the crypts, work which inevitably requires that human remains will have to be removed: specifically, the buried remains of 67 people.
The Association for Reconciliation and Historical Truth, a group that regards Spain's Law of Historical Memory as "damaging and revengeful", asserts that many families are opposed to the remains of their relatives being moved or examined.
Interim measure
The legal services of the Spain state have responded to the association's claim with assurances that the building works are only intended to facilitate "safe" access to the crypts, and did not require the manipulation and movement of human remains nor was this their goal.
Although the court, headed by judge Eva María Bru Peral, did not accept the argument on manipulation of human remains, it did consider that at present, the works should be frozen while it rules on the merits of the appeal. In the event that the appeal is rejected, the planned construction work may be carried out.
The body of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco himself, which was formerly buried in the Basilica at the Valle de los Caídos, was exhumed in 2019 at the initiative of the Socialist government and moved to Madrid's El Pardo-Mingorrubio cemetery.
Main image: Basilica of the "Valley of the Fallen" / Europa Press