Franco heirs ordered to open his summer retreat to public
MADRID -- After a two-year battle with the government, heirs of the Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco have been ordered to open his flamboyant summer estate to the public.
The regional government of Galicia this week declared the late 19th-century property in the northern town of Sada a cultural heritage site...
The move is the most recent step in Spain's belated quest to come to terms with the legacy of its civil war and the Franco dictatorship. The last triumphant equestrian statute of the dictator was removed from public view last month - more than 30 years after his death...
The neomedieval estate was officially given as an "offering" by the city of La Coruña to the Generalissimo -- "founder of the new empire", according to the effusive gift-giving decree -- amid the nationalistic furor of the civil war. But the money to pay for this gift came from taxpayers and forced donations by residents of the La Coruña region, where Franco was born.
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The regional government of Galicia this week declared the late 19th-century property in the northern town of Sada a cultural heritage site...
The move is the most recent step in Spain's belated quest to come to terms with the legacy of its civil war and the Franco dictatorship. The last triumphant equestrian statute of the dictator was removed from public view last month - more than 30 years after his death...
The neomedieval estate was officially given as an "offering" by the city of La Coruña to the Generalissimo -- "founder of the new empire", according to the effusive gift-giving decree -- amid the nationalistic furor of the civil war. But the money to pay for this gift came from taxpayers and forced donations by residents of the La Coruña region, where Franco was born.