Spain presented Tuesday a plan to remodel an imposing monument near Madrid that was once the burial site of Francisco Franco, days before the 50th anniversary of the dictator’s death.
The renovation is part of the Socialist government’s plan for a “resignification” of the Valley of Cuelgamuros, a vast underground basilica formerly known as the Valley of the Fallen.
The site houses 33,000 bodies from both sides of Spain’s 1936-1939 civil war, which was sparked by a military coup that later saw Franco seize power.
READ ALSO: Spain to publish list of Franco-era symbols targeted for removal
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Franco, who died on November 20, 1975, ordered the monument’s construction and was buried at the site.
But in 2019, the Socialist-led government exhumed his remains and relocated them to a more discreet family vault to prevent his tomb from becoming a shrine for far-right supporters.
The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry posted on X a model of the redesign, dubbed “The Foundation and the Cross”, saying British architect David Chipperfield had participated in the project.
It proposed “a new vision for the monument” that underscores “discretion in the landscape”, the ministry added.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government estimates there are over 3,300 mass graves from the civil war — with the largest at Cuelgamuros — and about 140,000 missing persons.
READ MORE: Franco-era mass graves loom over Spain 50 years after his death
