Forest of Memory (Madrid)

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The forest of memory

The Forest of Remembrance ( Spanish Bosque del Recuerdo ), formerly the Forest of the Absent ( Spanish Bosque de los Ausentes ), is a memorial in the Parque del Buen Retiro in the Spanish capital Madrid . It commemorates the 191 people who were killed in the attacks on several Madrid suburban trains on March 11, 2004 , and the special police officers who were killed on April 3 when the assassins were attacked. The name of the memorial was changed at the request of the relatives, as the victims of the attacks were not absent for them.

The monument consists of 192 trees, including 22 olive trees and 170 cypress trees, which are bordered by a small river. Each tree stands for one of the victims and the water symbolizes life. This concept of the “living monument” has been compared to earlier works such as Jenny Holzer's Black Garden . When determining the number of intended victims - signs of the difficulties of the Spanish culture of remembrance - a political conflict arose; the local right-wing parties named an unborn child who had perished in the womb as the 192nd victim, while the social democratic central government named the police officer, who died on April 3, 2004.

On March 11, 2005, the memorial was inaugurated by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia , who laid a bouquet of white flowers with the message “In memory of the victims of terrorism”. No speeches were given during the ceremony at the request of the victims' families; a 17-year-old cellist played Pau Casals ' version of Cant dels Ocells . Among the guests at the ceremony were, in addition to the then Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia, Prime Minister Zapatero and opposition leader Mariano Rajoy as well as the ambassadors of all 16 states who suffered victims among the dead. Heads of state were King Mohammed VI. of Morocco and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg as well as Presidents Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan), Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal), Ely Ould Mohamed Vall (Mauritania) and Jorge Sampaio (Portugal). Representatives of international organizations were Kofi Annan as Secretary General of the United Nations, Javier Solana as Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Josep Borrell as President of the European Parliament.

There is no indication of the importance of the place on the memorial. Another large commemoration ceremony was held to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

literature

  • Ana María Rabe: El arte y la creación de futuras memorias. Monumento e intervención artística en espacios urbanos. In: Faustino Oncina, María Elena Cantarino (eds.): Estética de la memoria. Prensa de la Universitat de València, Valencia 2011, pp. 159–192, here pp. 186–190 (Spanish, preview) .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Políticos y familiares homenajean en el 'Bosque del Recuerdo' a las víctimas del 11-M. In: El País , March 11, 2006 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Manuel Muncharaz Pou: Proyecto y diseño de áreas verdes. Ediciones Mundi-Prensa, Madrid 2013, p. 172 (Spanish).
  3. ^ Ana María Rabe: El arte y la creación de futuras memorias. Monumento e intervención artística en espacios urbanos. In: Faustino Oncina, María Elena Cantarino (eds.): Estética de la memoria. Prensa de la Universitat de València, Valencia 2011, pp. 159–192, here p. 186 (Spanish).
  4. ^ Ofelia Ferrán: Working Through Memory. Writing and Remembrance in Contemporary Spanish Narrative. Associated University Presses, Cranburg NJ 2007, p. 299, end note 1 (English).
  5. ↑ Madrid attacks are still a mystery today. In: Salzburger Nachrichten , March 11, 2014.
  6. ^ Unity in memory of the victims of terrorism in Madrid. In: Wochenblatt .es , March 24, 2015.

Coordinates: 40 ° 24 ′ 43 "  N , 3 ° 41 ′ 13"  W