Spanish Legión Memorial
One of several memorials to the dead of Spain's foreign legion on the Spanish mainland.
This memorial to Spain’s equivalent of the French Foreign Legion comemorates the dead of the Spanish military unit currently called La Legión and of all its predecessor units which were known by different names and had a variety of recruitment policies with respect to Spanish citizenship. The original unit was established in 1920 as the “Tercio de Extranjeros”.
The memorial in Zaragoza is one of at least 3 on the Spanish mainland and it stands in the Plaza de la Legión, a small area of the Parque de los Pinares de la Venicia alongside the Imperial Canal of Aragon.
The memorial stands on a large stone plinth adorned with numerous insignia of constituent units and is surrounded by pine trees. Alongside the main sculptural memorial are bronze statues of rampant lions (symbol of the city) and a sculpture of a member of the Legión assisting a wounded comrade.
It is not clear why Zaragoza should be the host city of such a memorial except for the fact that when the unit was originally established Zaragoza was the location of its first recruiting office.
At various times Legión recruits have been either all Spanish citizens (who joined the elite unit with an expressed desire to serve in overseas postings, usually in colonial conflicts) or, at other times, a mixture of Spanish and non-Spanish citizens (in the early years from anywhere in the world). In recent times the acceptance of non-Spanish applicants was re-established when the Spanish draft was ended and the army needed more recruits. This followed a period in which only Spaniards were accepted which ended around 2000. Today non-Spanish recruits to the Legión are encouraged but they must be native Spanish speaking citizens of former Spanish overseas territories and must, at the time of recruitment, be legally resident in Spain. Over the years, unlike the French Foreign Legion, Spanish citizens have significantly outnumbered foreigners. Currently both men and women are eligible to undergo the rigorous selection process.
The current public view of the Legión remains a little mixed because of its important involvement in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Franco, who had once commanded the unit and, just prior to that conflict, the, brutal, 1934 suppression of a miners’ revolt in Asturias. Some have suggested that such memorials contravene Spain’s Historic Memory Laws. In recent times the Legión has, to some extent, improved its public standing following service in several recent overseas engagements that had public support including service in the former Yugoslavia and several UN peacekeeping missions.
The history of the Zaragoza memorial is itself unclear but whatever one’s political stance there is no doubt that it is a striking military memorial in a peaceful setting.
Know Before You Go
From the city centre take the tram to Cassablanca then take the bus service 58 and get off at Passeo Infantes de Espania . You will then need to access the park via the Passeo de Duque de Alba.
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