Valley of Cuelgamuros

Valle de Cuelgamuros viewed from the esplanade

The Valley of the Fallen (Spanish: Valle de los Caídos) officially the Valley of Cuelgamuros (Spanish: Valle de Cuelgamuros) since 2022, is a Spanish memorial site in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives during the Spanish Civil War. Overlooking the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial near Madrid, the memorial was constructed by order of the Nationalist dictator Francisco Franco in 1940. Construction continued until 1958, with the site opening to the public the following year. Franco said that the monument was intended as a "national act of atonement" and reconciliation. The site served as Franco's burial place from his death in November 1975—despite it not being his intended burial site—until his exhumation on 24 October 2019, following a long and controversial legal process to remove all public glorification of his dictatorship.