Law of Historical Memory: Strategies to recover and communicate the heritage of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

Since 2006, a sequence of activities directly related to the preservation, recovery and communication of cultural heritage of Battle and Front of Jarama of Spanish Civil War has been carried out in the Madrid town of Rivas Vaciamadrid. These activities aim to raise awareness about the importance of and underresearched historical period and the state of preservation of the related heritage sites, in some cases endareged. At the same time, both of these goals serve the purpose of de-construct some of the cultural identity of our society. Institutionally, the creation of the so-called Law of Historical memory causes the revaluation of these activities. Indeed, the Association for the Memory Spaces (‘Asociación Espacios para la Memoria’) has been working for two years around the Cultural Heritage of the Spanish Civil War under this law. This article presents a critical reflection on experiences carried out. Key words: Archaeology of Spanish Civil War, battle of Jarama, historical memory, cultural heritage