Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Cerro de los Ángeles
Getafe · Memorial
The story
The hill at Getafe, near Spain's geographic centre, carried the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus consecrated by Alfonso XIII in 1919. In the anticlerical violence of summer 1936, militiamen staged a mock 'execution' of the statue by firing squad, photographed for the press, and the monument was dynamited on 7 August. In November the Nationalists took the hill and it remained close to the front for the rest of the war. Franco's regime rebuilt a larger monument (1944–1965), a symbol of the 'crusade' narrative.
What you can see today
The rebuilt monument and basilica; ruins of the original monument and bullet marks on the monument and convent walls.
Plan your visit
Free; open daily. Drive or bus from Getafe; views over southern Madrid.
- Open
- Grounds 08:00–21:00; religious buildings 09:00–21:20
Checked September 2026 from official sources: esmadrid.com. Things change, so check before you travel.
Sources
Nearby sites
- Los Yesares positions, Pinto · 4 km
- Museo Reina Sofía — Picasso's Guernica · 11 km
- Telefónica building, Gran Vía · 13 km
- Templo de Debod — site of the Cuartel de la Montaña · 13 km
- Cementerio Civil & Almudena execution wall · 13 km
- Jarama bridges: Pindoque & Arganda · 13 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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