| Monumento Nacional De Santa Cruz Del Valle De Los Caidos |
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by prisoners of the Spanish Civil War , from 1940 onwards.]] The Monumento Nacional de Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos ("National Monument of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen") is a triumphant memorial site erected at Cuelgamuros in the Guadarrama Valley near Madrid, Spain , to the orders of Generalissimo Francisco Franco , ostensibly to honor the people killed in the Spanish Civil War . A valley 10 km north of El Escorial was rededicated to the purpose, 1940-04-01 , which includes Franco's own tomb, hollowed out of a mountainside. The memorial site constitutes the most colossal architecture work built in Europe in the 20th century; it includes an underground church and the tallest memorial Cross in the world, a 152.4 metre high construction of stone. Those buried in the Valley of the Fallen, however, are thousands of Nationalist soldiers; the few former Republicans buried there were added among the collection of unknown soldiers assembled from temporary graves at the end of the war. Franco's timing of his announcement of the decision to create the monument left no doubts: it was the day of the victory parade to celebrate the first anniversary of his triumph over the Republic, Franco announced his personal decision to raise a splendid monument to those who had fallen in his cause {Link without Title} . The use of convict labor has been controversial. According to the project records, no more than 2000 workers participated directly in the construction, some of them highly skilled, as required by the complexity of the work. There were convicts at the work place included those convicted of political crimes. As an incentive, the 1940 Spanish law recognized the possibility to redeem two days of conviction for each working day. This benefit was increased to six days when labour was carried out at the Holy Cross. The shrine, designed by Pedro Muguruza and Diego Mendez, on a scale to equal "the grandeur of the monuments of old, which defy time and forgetfulness" (Franco, 1940-04-01 ), is laid out in the International Fascist classicism exemplified by Albert Speer or Mussolini 's bombastic ''Foro Italico'' in Rome, a conservative form of Moderne , with decorative detail in a "Neoherrerian" style that pays tribute to Juan De Herrera ’s Escorial not far away. The monumental hieratic sculptures over the main gate and the base of the cross culminated the career of Juan de Avalos.It consists of a wide ''esplanada'' with a spectacular view of the valley and the outskirts of Madrid in the distance. A long vaulted tunnelled Crypt was cut out of solid granite by twelve thousand political prisoners working without pay. A Roman Catholic monastery on the other side of the mountain houses priests who say the perpetual masses. In 1960, with Franco firmly in power, Pope John XXIII declared the underground crypt a Basilica . On the wrought-iron gates, Franco's Neo-Habsburg double-headed eagle is prominently displayed. In 1975, after Franco’s death, the site was designated by the interim government as the burial place for the ''Caudillo'', who actually did not desire to be buried in the valley, but in Madrid. The ''Valle de los Caidos'' remains a popular pilgrimage site. A funicular connects the basilica with the base of the cross, but access to the top of the cross is not allowed. Spain's Socialist Government has been debating plans to redesignate the Valley of the Fallen as a memorial to all Spaniards killed in conflict {Link without Title} . EXTERNAL LINKS
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