Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Torrero Cemetery memorials (Zaragoza)
Repression & memory site
The story
Zaragoza fell to the military rising on 19 July 1936 without a fight and became the Nationalists' main base on the Aragon front. In the city, repression was carried out mainly at the walls of Torrero cemetery, where thousands were shot in the war and post-war years. In 1979 the remains of about 2,500 victims were found beneath a cemetery walkway. The following year Zaragoza's first democratic mayor, Ramón Sainz de Varanda, dedicated a monument over their common grave. The same cemetery holds a Nationalist memorial chapel with graves of the fallen of the other side.
What you can see today
The 1980 memorial over the mass grave near Joaquín Costa's mausoleum, later memorial walls with victims' names, and the Nationalist memorial chapel with graves set in its walls.
Plan your visit
The cemetery is in the south of the city (C/ Fray Julián Garcés) and is open daily during cemetery hours. Entry is free. Please be respectful.
Sources
- tracesofwar.com/sights/143691/Memorial-Mass-Grave-Cementerio-de-Torrero.htm
- tracesofwar.com/sights/143691/Memorial-Mass-Grave-Cementerio-de-Torrero.htm
- tracesofwar.com/sights/143690/Nationalist-memorial-chapel-Cementerio-de-Torrero.htm
- tracesofwar.com/sights/143692/Spanisch-Graves-Cementerio-de-Torrero.htm
Nearby sites
- Basílica del Pilar – the unexploded bombs (Zaragoza) · 4 km
- Fuentes de Ebro – tank attack of October 1937 · 25 km
- Codo – battle of the Montserrat requetés · 36 km
- Belchite old town (Pueblo Viejo) · 38 km
- Ruta Orwell – Monte Irazo & Las Tres Huegas (Sierra de Alcubierre) · 38 km
- Quinto – El Piquete church · 39 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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