So the last entry left off with our first night out in Madrid – the next day we went to the Valle de los Caidos, or the Valley of the Fallen, which is like 30 minutes outside of Madrid. It is a giant basilica that Francisco Franco built in the 1940's, originally for the purpose of being his church, but it was later changed to be the memorial for the victims of the Spanish Civil War. Franco had political prisoners build it, and consequently, many Spanish people have mixed feelings about the place. However you feel about it though, the place is physically amazing. It is literally carved out of the mountain. The cross is 152 meters high, and made out of solid concrete. (It is the biggest cross in the world.) There are giant figures at the bottom, and they are shrouded in fabric, which is incredibly eerie looking when it moves in the breeze. Apparently the fabric is only for protection of the figures, but it definitely adds a creepy aspect to the place.
There is also a large Pieta figure above the doors of the church, which is also covered in fabric, and is equally creepy/interesting.
Of course they don’t let people take pictures inside the church, but Franco is buried right next to the altar inside, along with José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was the leader of the Falange Española, or the Spanish Phalanx(a spanish fascist party), and apparently one of Franco's BFF's. There are ginormous statues of the four archangels inside, and Azrael, the angel of death, literally looks like a 30-foot high statue of a dementor from Harry Potter. (Yes, I just compared a hugely important historical monument with a fictional character from a children’s book. DON’T JUDGE ME!) Standing at the grave of one of the most famous leaders of fascism was quite the experience. I would definitely say that the entire basilica is equal parts mind-blowing and eerie. I can understand how people have very different opinions of it.
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