Flight of hope in Spanish village

A NEW monument has been unveiled in the village of Almachar in memory of the locals who died during the Spanish Civil War.

Designed by Maltese artist Eleazar Galea, who lives in Coin, the limestone sculpture forms part of an incentive to recover the local history of the Axarquia village.

It comes after mass graves of Civil War victims were uncovered in the village, and the bones of the village’s first mayor Juan Muñoz Fernandez – who was tortured and killed in the Civil War – were exhumed in February last year.
His remains have now been given a proper burial as the village paid respects to its dead.

“It was a lovely day,” said Galea, who was commissioned by the town hall to do the sculpture.

“The general feedback from the people of Almachar was good and many commented that the sculpture gives a sense of peace and healing of past injury which was my aim.

“The sculpture represents humanity with no distinction between race, sex, religion or political ideology.

“And the swallows are representing the hope for a better future.”