Valencia in Memory responds to the strategic objective of strengthening social cohesion City of Valencia Culture Plan, 2017 (1) and proposes initiatives aimed at recovering the memory of our democracy, developing and complying with Law 52/2007 of Historical Memory, valuing heritage elements and highlighting the emblematic places of the city related to the civil war. Below are listed and described the main initiatives of this program carried out by the Department of Heritage and Cultural Resources:
The removal of elements of Francoist symbolism, the removal of Francoist streets and certain recognitions and honors to historical figures linked to the dictatorship are examples of the application of this law. Within the framework of this same law, the City Council of Valencia has taken the first step, following the approval of a motion, to make effective the adhesion to the Argentine complaint against Franco’s crimes.
The Council has proposed the rehabilitation of two anti-aircraft shelters from the civil war. In 2017, the rehabilitation of the City Hall shelter was completed and in 2018 that of the Carrer Serrans shelter, the latter partially intended for cultural use in the Ciutat Vella district. Currently, the studies required to proceed with the rehabilitation of the Massarrojos shelter, discovered in 2016, and the Saler bunker have begun.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the capital of the Republic, the City Council has marked a series of places and buildings that played a prominent role in that period, between November 1936 and October 1937, in which Valencia was Capital of the Republic. These places and buildings can be seen following the Valencia route in the Memory.
The Department of Heritage and Cultural Resources commemorated, in 2016 and 2017, the transfer of the Republican Government to the city of Valencia with the publication of three volumes of the work “Valencia, capital of the Republic 1936-1937”. coordinated by Javier Navarro and Sergio Valero, professors at the University of Valencia, and which review the cultural, political and social life of the city in those early war years. An eminently photographic work, “València Republicana”, has also been published, with images from public and private archives, many of them unpublished.
The municipal museums have also echoed the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Valencia as capital of the Republic and have programmed exhibitions such as “Iron Storm. Anti-aircraft shelters in Valencia”, and “Royo Gómez: Science and war in Valencia, capital of the Republic”. Individual catalogs of these exhibitions were also published by the publications service.
(1) Rivers, Joaquim, Gisbert, Verónica, Martinez, Santi (2017). City of Valencia Culture Plan, 2017. Valencia: University of Valencia