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Commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death of Manuel Azaña in exile

17/11/2020
Commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death of Manuel Azaña in exile

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 organized an extensive and multidisciplinary program of events on the occasion of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death of Manuel Azaña in exile.

The acts of tribute of which he was the last president of the Second Spanish Republic that now begin, will extend until next spring and will include conferences, colloquiums, round tables, exhibitions, concerts, theater, dance, period cinema and readings of his work, among other activities.

The central focus of the commemorative program will be the exhibition "Azaña: intellectual and statesman. Eighty years after his death in exile", whose inauguration in the National Library will take place on December 17.

Another of the highlights of the programming will be the "Azaña Colloquiums", which will have the participation of intellectuals and experts in their figure and which will be held at the Ateneo de Madrid from 18 to 30 November. The closing will be carried out by the first vice-president, Carmen Calvo, on 30 November. The inauguration of these colloquiums will be carried out by the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez.

The "Café Azaña Cycle" will have a wide artistic and cultural poster that will include activities related to music, dance, period cinema or theater, and whose settings will be the Cervantes Institute, the Student Residence, the Círculo de Bellas Artes and the National Library of Spain. The activities of the "Azaña Coffee Cycle" will be held between January 20 and March 24, 2021.

Alcalá de Henares, his hometown, will also host a wide program of commemorative activities, including: a cycle of colloquiums accompanied by readings of texts by Manuel Azaña; the presentation of a guide with the places in the city linked to the politician and an exhibition that reflects Azaña’s relationship with this town, of which his father and grandfather were mayors.

The commemorative program will be completed with the broadcast on Radio Televisión Española of several podcats with fragments of their speeches and a series of films from the 30s in the Filmoteca Española.

With this comprehensive program that has Ángeles Egido as general curator, professor of Contemporary History, the government wants to pay tribute to one of the most outstanding personalities of Spain of the 20th century, when it is 80 years since his death in exile, in the French city of Montauban. A program that has had two important prologues with two acts of homage developed in the Congress of Deputies and in Alcalá de Henares.