The Government has declared nine Places of Democratic Memory of the liberal period, and this is recorded by the BOE, as a tribute and recognition to the figures of Rafael de Riego, Mariana Pineda, José Torrijos and the palace house of Azumero Espartero, in addition to the most important places of the Cortes and the Constitution of Cadiz (1812) and the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823).
The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory pays tribute with this statement to the liberal values that defended figures of the 19th century, in their fight against absolutism and in defense of the Constitution of Cadiz.
Nine Liberal Memory Sites
The nine Places of Memory are the Casa Palacio de Espartero, in Logroño; the birthplace, bust of General Rafael de Socorro and the town of Tuña, as an exemplary village; the Plaza de los Mártires del Pueblo and the monument to Rafael Socorro, and the Plaza de la Constitución and the sculpture to Rafael Socorro, in the Cabezas de San Juan (Heads of San Juan); the old convent of San Hermenegildo (Seville); the monument to Mariana Pineda, in Granada; the monument to the Constitution of 1812, in the Cortes, in Cádiz; and the other places.
These Places of Memory are framed in the Spanish nineteenth-century liberal tradition and in the defense of the Constitution of Cadiz of 1812, and reflect the struggle for the conquest of rights, freedoms and democracy, which arose with the Cortes of Cadiz and the Constitution of 1812 and, in accordance with the Law of Democratic Memory, represent many Spaniards who fought and gave their lives for the implementation of a democratic system in our country, as was happening in the countries around us.
The declaration of the Casa Palacio de Espartero (1793-1879), in Logroño, extols the main liberal figure of the 19th century. Military, regent and president of the Council of Ministers, he was known as “pacifier of Spain” when he put an end to the First Carlist War. His prestige went beyond his military status and in his house were gathered the most relevant figures of the politics of the mid-19th century.
There are two declarations dedicated to General Rafael de Riego (1784-1823), his birthplace and his bust in Tuña (Asturias) and the Plaza de los Mártires del Pueblo and the monument erected in his honor in Cabezas de San Juan (Seville). He promoted the military pronouncement in 1820 that re-established the Constitution of 1812, abolished by Ferdinand VII, and gave way to the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823). President of the Cortes, he was hanged in 1823, with the entry of the French army, known as the “Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis”, which helped to re-establish absolutism.
Another important figure in the struggle for the restoration of the Constitution of 1812 and against the absolutism of Fernando VII, was José Torrijos (1791-1831). A fighter in the War of Independence and defender of the Gaditano text, he went into exile after the end of the Liberal Triennium, establishing from there contacts and strategies to return the Constitution and freedom to the country. He was finally shot on the beach of San Andrés de Málaga. The BOE recognizes the Cross of Torrijos and the Monument to Torrijos as Places of Memory.
Also honored is Mariana Pineda (1804-1831), defender of constitutional values, who welcomed in her home liberals who escaped the repression of Fernando VII. She was arrested and executed to death for a vile garrotte. The monument erected in his memory of Granada is declared a Place of Memory.
The BOE publishes two Places of Memory linked to the Cortes of Cádiz, the monument to the Constitution of 1812 in the capital of Cádiz and the Teatro Real de las Cortes in San Fernando (Cádiz), which hosted more than three hundred sessions of the Cortes Generales in 1811. Place of Memory is finally declared the former convent of San Hermenegildo de Sevilla, headquarters of the Cortes in 1823, after the parliamentarians of Madrid fled before the invasion of the one hundred thousand children of San Luis.
These nine places of Memory, together with that of the Martyrs of Freedom “los coloraos” (Almería), declared Place of Memory before, extol the defense of liberal constitutionalism and, with them, pay homage and preserve the memory of those who formed part of the first Spanish liberalism and gave their lives in defense of freedom and the Constitution of 1812.