Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Almendralejo – Purificación church tower & memorial
City site
The story
On the drive north from Seville, Asensio's and Castejón's columns entered Almendralejo on 7 August 1936. About fifty militiamen barricaded themselves in the tower of the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Purificación and held out for a week against artillery, explosives and smoke before surrendering; they were then shot. The town suffered heavy repression, including the killing of a number of women. A memorial in the municipal cemetery, unveiled in November 2023, names 462 victims from Almendralejo and 252 from other towns killed nearby. Earlier, under Republican control, several right-wing prisoners had also been killed in the town.
What you can see today
The tall church tower on Plaza de España, still showing its role in the siege only through local accounts; the new memorial wall in the municipal cemetery.
Plan your visit
The church exterior is free on Plaza de España; the cemetery lies at the edge of town (usual cemetery hours).
Sources
- mapcarta.com/W153396391
- es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toma_de_Almendralejo
- rcb.almendralejo.es/noticias/11730/inaugurado-memorial-homenaje-ctimas-represia-franquista
Nearby sites
- Puente Romano, Mérida (fall of Mérida) · 26 km
- Campillo de Llerena – Civil War Museum & Italian cemetery · 53 km
- Valle de la Serena – Republican defence line (La Serena pocket) · 53 km
- Puerta de la Trinidad, Badajoz · 53 km
- Former bullring (Palacio de Congresos) – Badajoz massacre memorial · 53 km
- Castuera concentration camp (La Verilleja) · 78 km
All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →
The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The battlefields, trenches, ruined villages, shelters, museums and memorials of the Spanish Civil War across the whole of Spain, told fairly from both sides.
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