Today I visited a town in Aragón called Huesca, nestled near the foothills of the Pyrenees in north-eastern Spain. Not the most trumpeted place on the map, but it comes as a fairly well-recommended day trip from Zaragoza (despite the forty-degree heat). Like pretty much everywhere I have visited, there are some real hidden gems, especially if you are willing to go the extra yard and trek around for a few hours. To my delight, I found among other things a shop selling the sword from the Highlander films, but that’s by-the-by.
I found an unusual monument which inspired me to enter my first photography contest, with the remit of capturing “what it means to be unbreakable”. Neither my photographer’s eye nor my outdated Nokia phone are up to the task I should expect; however the photo shows the ascent to a pyramid-shaped memorial constructed of 545 stone blocks, each representing one of Huesca’s fallen from the Spanish Civil War. A haunting testament to their courage, suffering, and enduring impact, even for a non-native. The vivid red plants at once evoke thoughts of bloodshed and the symbolism of the Spanish republican left, while the form is reminiscent of the millenia-old Mayan civilisation.
I’ll never pretend to be an expert on any region’s history, but as I have made my way across Spain I have seen the deep impact of the civil war and the Franco years. The wounds often appear fresh, from the “Spanish Spain” heartlands of Madrid and Andalucía through to independence-seeking regions like Cataluña. Picasso’s Guernica and associated works sometimes feel like they haven’t aged a day. Of course, modern Spain is peaceful, welcoming and very easy to travel in. It’s when you talk to the people and step off the track that you start to understand what unbreakable means, and why it has been – and always will be – an essential characteristic.
The memorial can be found in Huesca’s El Parque Mártires de la Libertad.
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