Carabanchel Prison. Place of Memory and Memories of the Place

Abstract

This text present a reflection on the heritage significance of certain historical sites linked to repressive functions. It analyses the Carabanchel prison complex and its importance for the individual and collective memory of our recent past. From the many areas where the recent Spanish past is being challenged in the recent decades, one of the most obvious is that affecting the important material traces left by the 1936-1939 war and the dictatorship of General Franco on the natural landscape and the urban and monumental construction of the territory. The study was conducted with an interdisciplinary perspective, using both historical sources and ethnographic data from members of the resistance movements, former political prisoners and other social actors.