Benedictine Abbey of the Sacred Cross in the Valley of the Fallen

The Benedictine Abbey of the Sacred Cross in the Valley of the Fallen is the most visible granite image you come across when you are in the middle of the large pine forest on the crag of Cuelgamuros near El Escorial. The Monumento Nacional de Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos, as it is known in Spain, rises in sheer majesty amid the flora of the Cuelgamuros in Madrid. The Benedictine Abbey of the Sacred Cross in the Valley of the Fallen was built as a mausoleum during the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) by the architects Pedro Muguruza and Diego Mendez. The monument was sculpted by Juan de Avalos.

The Benedictine Abbey was conceived by Francisco Franco to honor the fallen heroes of the Spanish Civil War and as a national act of atonement. Beneath the monument is housed the remnants of about 50,000 or 50% of the martyrs whose names are found in the war register. However, the tone of the Sacred Cross monument is clearly Nationalistic rather than being Republican. The hitch lies in the inscription, “those who fell for God and for Spain”. Those who fought for the country on the Republican side did not do so “for God”. The Benedictine Abbey was dedicated to the martyrs on April 1, 1940.

The Benedictine Abbey of the Sacred Cross in the Valley of the Fallen includes the world’s largest basilica that was hewn out of a ridge of granite rock. This is the world’s tallest memorial ridge. The incredible Valley of the Fallen is one of Spain’s impressive monuments with the adjacent El Escorial palace, which houses the richly decorated apartments and mausoleums of many a Spanish emperor. The Benedictine Abbey is a 20th century landmark of Spanish architecture which defies the ageing processes of time and memory.