The complex has an underground basilica in which thousands of combatants from both sides are buried. Above it stands the largest cross in the world certified by the Guinness Book of Records at 500 feet tall. In the surroundings, a monumental Way of the Cross was built, almost three miles long with about 2,300 steps that ends at the basilica.
Next to it, a community of Benedictine monks from the Monastery of St. Dominic of Silos was established.
Pope Pius XII erected the monastery as an abbey in 1958, the only one in the 20th century to not have been previously designated a priory. In 1960, Pope John XXIII raised the abbey’s church to a minor basilica.
Initially, a social studies center was established on the grounds, which functioned from 1958 to 1982. The abbey runs a hostel and the Holy Cross Choral School, where about 30 boys are educated.
Currently, the Valley of the Fallen is in disrepair due to inadequate maintenance by the government’s national heritage agency. Since 2019, the government has announced plans to eliminate the Holy Cross Valley of the Fallen Foundation, an institution created at the time of the monument’s construction, and create in its place a new legal framework.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.