Stunning Landscapes In Spain Hide A Dark Secret

Spain´s Stunning landscapes hide a dark secret.

A BEAUTIFUL yet solemn photographic display was recently exhibited at Madrid’s Goethe Institute.

The photographs, a collection entitled “Memoria Perdida”  by accomplished artist and photographer Miquel Gonzalez were displayed as part of the 2019 PhotoEspana festival.

His photographs depict eerily still and subdued landscapes, normally a scene of beauty, these images show the sites of mass, unmarked graves filled during the tragic Spanish Civil War in 1939.

Spain has one of the highest numbers of mass graves in the world after more than 130,000 people “disappeared” during the War and during Francisco Franco’s subsequent dictatorship.

Their remains are distributed across more than 2,500 unexcavated, unmarked mass grave sites, mainly surrounding the Madrid province.

It was only in the 1970’s that Spain managed to discover its freedom after the tyrannical reign of Franco, which was around the time that photographer Gonzalez was discovering his love for learning about the rich history that came with such a turbulent time.

The Spanish Civil War has not long since ended, and the last of its remaining witnesses have all but passed, with experts warning that the country is in danger of falling into a perpetual silence regarding the tragic events. However the government is pledging a total of €150,000 to fund efforts to remember the countries brutal history for generations to come.

Spain News