The exhibition is one of the main milestones of the government’s commemorative program to pay tribute to Azaña on the 80th anniversary of his death.

National Library of Spain, Madrid

The First Vice-President of the Government, Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Carmen Calvo, accompanied King Felipe VI at the opening of the exhibition "Azaña: intellectual and statesman. The exhibition is one of the main milestones of the commemorative program, prepared by the Government to honor the former president of the Second Republic, on the 80th anniversary of his death.

Together with the vice-president, they have participated in this tour of the exhibition accompanying the King, the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, the Minister of Culture and Sport, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, and the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, among other authorities.

The exhibition, which will remain open to the public from December 18 to April 4, 2021, has been organized by the First Vice-Presidency of the government, through the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, in collaboration with the National Library of Spain and Spanish Cultural Action (AC/E).

The exhibition reviews the life of Manuel Azaña, president of the Second Republic between 1936 and 1939, and one of the most relevant figures in the contemporary history of Spain, who died in exile in Montauban (France), in November 1940.

The exhibition provides a complete picture of the man who was in his triple dimension: human, intellectual and political, highlighting, in addition to his work as minister, head of the Government and president of the Republic, his status as an intellectual of prestige.

As Vice-President Calvo stressed, Azaña was "a true example in all possible registers of the human being: great patriot, great intellectual, great politician, great defender of the constitutional order, someone who was equal to his country and a man of immense sensitivity".

Following a chronological sequence, the exhibition covers different periods in the life of Azaña: his childhood and youth in Alcalá de Henares, his subsequent development in Madrid, and delves into three crucial stages in the history of Spain: the Second Republic, the Civil War and Exile.

The exhibition has about two hundred works from both the National Library and other Spanish and foreign institutions. For this commemoration, very little known photographs and videos have been rescued, which bring us closer not only to the figure and work of Manuel Azaña, but also to the memory of his time.

Since mid-November, the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, through the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory and the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española, has launched a whole program of events to commemorate the anniversary, which will extend until spring, and which will include exhibitions, several colloquiums and different activities of music, theater, dance or cinema.