“Undignified” situation of the Pantheon of famous Galicians: uncertain and regular

May 25, 1891. The remains of Rosalía de Castro were transferred from the Adina cemeteryin Iria Flavia, it is attached to the igrexa de Saint Dominic of Bonavalo. Thus the Pantheon of Illustrious Galegos was born with great institutional and wider support. This place is charged with symbolism in which a logo or a regionalist leader is embedded Alfredo Branas (1906), that is, a sculptor Francisco Asorey (1961), that is, a poet Ramón Cabanillas (1967), that is, an intellectual Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao (1984 with the consent of the Galician Parliament) as a cartographer and mathematician Sunday Fontan (1988) you are 132 years after there is no uncertainty. There is no municipal, regional or national standard that regulates its functioning, both who should be there, as well as management and financing. A bill presented by the Museo do Pobo or Consello da Cultura to the Royal Galician Academy and the Rosalía de Castro, Castelao and Alfredo Brañas Foundations to Parliament in 2011 to keep the pantheon under its custody never came to fruition. be approved. This is why you have to cheat your own situation in the temple, with access and precarious status.

“It is a country with nothing. The temple is next to the Arcebispado [unha sentenza no ano 2010 do Tribunal Supremo devolveullo á Igrexa], but it is not competent to decide on the pantheon,” explains the historian Justo Beramendi, who participated in the drafting of the bill and spent his summers in front of the Museo do Pobo Galego for more than a decade. “This is an unworthy situation for the history of Galicia,” the expert repeats. For two years, the museum entity together with the Fundación Rosalía, which coincides with the commemoration of the transfer of the two mortal remains of the poet, denounced the uncertainty of what should be the Pantheon of Galicia and demanded decent treatment and access. “AND a situation that does not deserve space with the symbolism that the pantheon has“, he says Anxo Angueira, President of the Rosalía Foundation.

O feito on which igraxa de Bonaval depends Archdiocese of Santiago This means that any activity carried out in the cultural, institutional or religious sphere must have his permission, as happened recently with the funeral of García-Bodaño or when Fundación Rosalía or Castelao organized ceremonies. The church body explains that they study each request before issuing a permit. Well, what about visitor access? Unhas reixas look towards the main door from outside or outside. After the change of ownership of the temple, the entrance was made possible from the side through the adjacent Museo do Pobo, as established in the agreement between the Xunta and the Igrexa. So that the time of the visit is kept within the museum as a whole.

Because of this dysfunctional limbo and the peculiarity of the approach, it is necessary to imagine the decay of the only Gothic temple left in Santiago. The rains this week have left visible pengueiras, which are added to the heavy dampness that can be seen on several walls, the vegetation growing out of control or the poor condition of the roofs. “There is no maintenance plan,” I said losada shellpresident Pobo Museummisleading that “at these moments the Pantheon of the famous Galegos and the people who rest there are not very well dressed”.

parliamentary procedure

But what is happening in Parliament? The Presidency explains that the matter is in the hands of two groups. From the majority, or PP, they confirm that it “works” and allude to the difficulties implied or involved by several institutions, such as Igrexa and Patrimonio. The opposition BNG and PSOE state that they did not invite you to the negotiations. This lack of progress provokes criticism of BNG. to his deputy Mercedes Queixas he understands that the Pantheon is being “kidnapped twice”. On the one hand, he points to Igrex, “because the activity must be subject to its permission”, and on the other, “to PP in the Parliament, for which there is no progress”. Give an example of the lack of response to the initiatives you presented in October.

This lack of regulation Galician Pantheon Regarding their management, use and preservation, as well as not defining who might be worthy of accompanying people like Rosalía and Castelao and the procedure for carrying out a stagnant list of “celebrities” since December 30, 1988, Domingo’s Fontán remains were deposited in Bonaval. In the bill from 2011, they included among the conditions that at least 25 years have passed since the person’s death and opened, for example, the possibility of setting up a cenotaph in memory of the recently deceased.

Twelve years of waiting for the law: “There must be a solution for x”

The Museum of the Galician People, always connected and concerned with the Pantheon of famous Galicians, It will reactivate the Parliament on demand to regulate its work. At the last request, it was on July 8 of last year when he registered next to him Royal Galician Academy (RAG)eo Galician Culture Council (CCG) request to convene a meeting of speakers or parliamentary table. “Nine months later there was no answer and we will repeat the request”, I told the president of the Concha Losada Museum, who was mistaken that “we have to give him a solution”. The draft law has been stuck for 12 years. “We don’t know why it was blocked at any given time. All the groups separately told us that they agree”, he points out.

The President pointed out that both the Council, which owns the Bonavala space and the monastery itself, and the Archdiocese, the owner of the temple, have shown a willingness to find a solution so that the space has its own relevance. symbolism.

Losada points out that the institutions are interested in arranging the space. His words were supported by the president of the Rosalía Foundation: “We have stood still for too long and it is time to find a solution.” Angueira believes that the fact that the church belongs to the Archdiocese should not be a problem, “other church property is perfectly available”. from to Castelao Foundation, headed by Miguel Anxa SeixasIn December, they also asked the president of the parliament to designate the pantheon with dignity, stating that the two remains of Castelao will not be 40 years old in 2024.