The Spanish government, through the Alava subdelegation, finally began this Friday the process of “complete destruction” of the Francoist shield that, almost fifty years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, continued to preside over one of the two turrets of the complex. institutional building on Olaguíbel Street, in the heart of Vitoria. This is a very symbolic decision since it is the last great Francoist icon that remains visible in the streets of the Basque Country, although it is not the only vestige of the previous regime since, among other things, there is another identical shield covered in the new cathedral of Vitoria, that of María Inmaculada, the city maintains a street dedicated to the mayor José Lejarreta, and a cross survives at the top of Morkaiko, between Eibar and Elgoibar, in memory of a member of the Borbón family who died fighting alongside the rebels in the same cradle of the Second Republic. It will be completely dismantled by Wednesday, according to official sources and the company in charge of the work, which is VIAS.
The State Building on Olaguíbel Street was inaugurated in 1953. The buildings were built on the remains of the old convent of San Francisco, demolished a few decades earlier and of which only a few traces remain. It was part of a group of 21 new complexes of the same design spread throughout Spain, a style that was called “Franco’s new factory” or, more technically, “neo-Herrera”. The dictator himself – along with his wife Carmen Polo and the ministers of his government – participated in the inauguration, which included a military parade, “chistularis” and praise for the parafascist party, the Falange. The city, which took to the streets, was decorated with flags of Spain, the Falange and the Vatican, since the visit also included a stop at the new cathedral, where the other emblem is located.
The complex has two turrets. In the one located to the west, the current constitutional shield of Spain has been displayed for years. This is the wing where the offices of the Subdelegation of the Government are located. In the central part, there is a delegation of the Tax Administration – with minimal powers because there is its own Provincial Treasury in Álava – and the National Commissariat, including the counter for issuing the DNI and passports. It was in the east turret where the shield was kept. It was the Palace of Justice, but it was abandoned thirty years ago when the modern building on Avenida de Gasteiz, the old Generalísimo Avenue, was inaugurated. The Francoist shield has survived the 1981 shield regulations, the 2007 Historical Memory Law, the 2022 reform and the regional regulations on the matter, which provided without exception for the removal of this type of symbology. Obviously, he spent more years in a democracy than in a dictatorship.
The end of this shield is due to the reform work undertaken by the Government to reuse abandoned courts and improve the facilities of the National Police. The Executive had already promised it in 2022, then postponed it to 2023, proposed July 2024 as an alternative and it was not until September that the process began. The scaffolding already covers the entire façade. Technically, it is not a simple operation. An operator of the contractor indicates that “the piece is well tied up” and ironically that “before, things were well done, so that they would last a lifetime”. The Subdelegation confirms that the process will last several days and it is estimated that on Wednesday the emblem will have disappeared, which will not in principle be replaced by another constitutional shield of Spain. What has been removed will not be preserved either and will be “completely destroyed”, according to these sources.
In the bar closest to the place, a person confessed to having learned in recent days that there was an important vestige of the dictatorship there thanks to the announcement of his retirement. The owner of the place was aware of it and is happy about its disappearance. “This trauma and deficit of memory that we have endured for many decades of democracy must be resolved not only by purifying the Francoist vestiges, but also by plaques that contextualize what happened. We are convinced that we must integrate the democratic principles and values that still need to be restored, among others the recognition of all the people and entities that fought for freedom,” they explain from the Ateneo Republicano de Vitoria, which was the first city whose institutions were conquered by the Francoists in Spain after the coup d’état of July 18, 1936.
