“Carabanchel está grabado a fuego en la piel moral de todos los españoles.”
Juan Antonio Ramírez, Carabanchel: el templo de la memoria
Under cover of darkness, one night in late October 2008, an excavator began tearing at the walls of the Carabanchel prison. The enormous complex, constructed in the 1940s, was one of the most notorious architectural landmarks from Spain’s decades of dictatorship.
A few weeks before, the fate of the structure appeared uncertain. A judge had ordered a study of the prison for possible evidence relevant to ongoing investigations into crimes committed under Franco’s regime. And the Congress was debating legislation on the prison’s future. However, the Madrid city government effectively put an end to the debate by moving ahead with the demolition. Seventy people were removed from the complex, mostly Romanian gypsies who had been living on the site, and construction crews got to work.
By early November, 17 years ago today, the 32-meter wide central cupula had collapsed and the structure was unrecognizable. Promises were made about redeveloping the lot to serve the community, adding a hospital, school and apartments. But those plans failed to materialize. Today, all that remains today is an overgrown, empty field.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting excerpts from the photobook I published in 2014 documenting the prison’s history and condition in its final days. A digital version of the book is available for free via Apple Books