Robert Capa Center: memories of a war

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A house in Madrid, which was highly affected by a bombing during the Spanish Civil War, will become a cultural center to show what happened

The photograph of a house full of holes consequence of the bombings during the Spanish Civil War has remained for years as an icon of what the country lived in the 1930s. Today, that house becomes a museum that remembers the attacks of the civil war.

Leer en español: Centro Robert Capa: los recuerdos de una guerra

Robert Capa was a photojournalist who photographed Spain during the years of the civil war. The image of this house in Madrid, which had been recently bombarded, became an icon, both of the war and of the photographer. This one showed some children sitting in front of the house that had the walls with holes results of bombings. The house, located on Calle Peironcely, in Madrid, is still inhabited by citizens, but after a request, it will become a cultural center where there will be screenings and conferences.

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The future Robert Capa Center seeks to strengthen the cultural identity of the country, and specifically of the area, after what it was experienced during the years of the civil war. Councilor Mauricio Valiente, of the Now Madrid party, has said, according to El Periódico, that this "is also an opportunity to be another piece in memory politics in the capital." In addition, the house will go from being considered urban, as residential, and will become a cultural resource of the city.

However, the project has counted with several detractors guilds, because they say that it is a way to uselessly revive what happened. For example, for a representative of the Ciudadanos party, the main detractor of the project, called Sofía Miranda, is "redundant and repetitive," according to El Periódico.

This, since it has been sought for several years to do something to dignify those who live in the house and in the sector, but everything has remained empty promises. According to the speakers, this case is different because, once they relocate the inhabitants, they can start the project that already has a budget and is ready.

The proposal was born from the requests of a movement called # SalvaPeironcely10, formed mainly by the inhabitants of the house. The movement "arises from the need to preserve the identity of this building and to recall the vulnerability with which the civilian population suffered the indiscriminate and devastating attack", as stressed on its official website. The inhabitants have staged several dramas, especially for lack of public support to preserve the place. This is why many have had to leave there.

The main problem that was around the house, was in 2017, from its possible demolition. This not only would end with a place that, for many, should be heritage, but it would leave entire families without a place to live. This is why many opposed the demolition and, subsequently, have begun to protect the place and fight for the City Council to provide them with the necessary help.

In such a way that the creation of the Robert Capa Center will go hand in hand, before anything else, with the relocation of these families. So that they are not affected but, on the contrary, benefit from the creation of the new center.

A photograph that went around the world and it began to create importance around this street in Madrid, which seeks to preserve the only house that remained standing on those streets after the civil war. The consolidation of this center will begin in the next six months, approximately, once the current inhabitants have been relocated.

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Súarez
Translated from "Centro Robert Capa: los recuerdos de una guerra"