Cuelgamuros Valley (Valley of the Fallen)

Known as the Valley of the Fallen until 2022, the Cuelgamuros Valley is a colossal funerary monument built between 1940 and 1958, where more than 33,000 combatants from both sides of the Spanish Civil War are buried.

It is located on the southern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama, on the Nava cliff. The complex dominates the landscape of the Cuelgamuros Valley, populated by forests of Scots pine, black pine, and red pine, as well as other reforested areas such as larch and beech.

The complex consists of an abbey, basilica, choir stall, and inn. Its most visible element is the 150-meter-high cross, the tallest in the world, which dominates the landscape. Its design is the brainchild of architects Pedro Muguruza and Diego Méndez, who took on an unprecedented technical challenge. The cross is enhanced by the impressive sculptures by Juan de Ávalos, representing the four evangelists (Saint John, Saint Luke, Saint Mark, and Saint Matthew) and the four cardinal virtues (Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance).

The basilica is carved into the rock and accessed from a front esplanade and a large porticoed excedra presided over by the Pietà by Juan de Ávalos. The 262-meter-long nave has six chapels dedicated to different invocations of the Virgin (Immaculate Conception, Carmen, Loreto, Africa, Mercy, and Pilar). Noteworthy are the Flemish Gothic triptychs and the tapestries with scenes from the Apocalypse, copied from a Flemish collection belonging to Charles V. The transept is crowned by a 41-meter-high dome decorated with a spectacular mosaic by Santiago Padrós. Under the dome are the choir, the Christ by Julio Beovide and Ignacio Zuloaga, the four archangels by Juan de Ávalos and the chapels of the Sepulchre and the Holy of Holies.