Monks and supporters defy closure of Franco basilica

The Association for the Defense of the Valley of the Fallen has filed a petition with Madrid's regional High Court demanding that dictator Francisco Franco's burial place be reopened to the public, the association's president Pablo Linares told Europa Press on Monday.

The controversial Valle de los Caídos complex was built partly with forced labor after the Spanish Civil War under the orders of General Franco. Some historians say hundreds of laborers died building the granite monument, which has a basilica, monastery and giant crucifix, which can be seen from 30 kilometers away.

The government's National Heritage body, who are responsible for the monument, insist that restoration of the basilica's facade is essential for public safety. The site has been closed since April for works that include the repair of a lift connecting the abbey to the church, all at an estimated cost of 100,000 euros.

Political events glorifying fascism are now forbidden at the site, since the Historical Memory Law was passed in 2007, calling for Francoist symbols to be removed and allowing for victims on the losing, Republican side of the Civil War to recover their dead.

The Benedictine monks of the vast underground basilica held a public mass in protest at the temporary closure of the temple on Sunday.

In a combative sermon, at the open-air ceremony the prior claimed the monks' religious freedom was under attack, a situation he compared to that experienced by Catholics "during the hate-fueled persecution of faith in Spain between 1934 and 1939," in reference to the Republican wave of anticlericalism.

Speaking to hundreds of worshippers gathered in the mist, Father Santiago Cantera described the temple's closure as "subtle psychological and emotional harassment."

David Fernández, a 19-year-old who attended Sunday's mass said he came to honor the dictator and protest against "what the Socialists [in government] are doing to the family." While full access to the temple is restricted, monks are allowed to hold mass there and the public are allowed access in order to attend religious events.

However, the government barred access to a mass in honor of Civil War victims on November 3, which was held at the graves of Franco and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera, prompting the monks to move outdoors.