In the margins of history, stories usually hide that, despite their intimacy, have the power to resonate collectively. Such is the case of the cemetery of San José de Granada, where the love of a mother transformed the tragedy into a pilgrimage. Today, that story seeks to be recognized as the most powerful in the country in a unique and moving contest.
The legacy of a field with centuries of memory
The San José cemetery, founded in 1805 after an epidemic of yellow fever, is the second oldest in Spain and one of the most admired for its architectural and artistic wealth. There are essential figures of Granada history, such as the singer Enrique Morente, the intellectual Ángel Ganivet or the engineer Emilio Herrera.
Today, this enclosure is news again: it has been selected as a finalist in the ninth edition of the Cemeteries Contest organized by ENALTA, in the category of ‘Best History’. It is not just about beauty or seniority, but of authentic emotions and stories capable of keeping collective memory alive.
‘The pilgrim’: a love that climbed mountains
The Granada candidacy has been promoted by a real story that has played sensitive fibers: that of Andrea Martínez Andaluz, known as “the pilgrim.” His son, Julián Bielsa, lost his life in one of the worst aerial accidents in Spain: the charter plane from Paris crashed into the Alcazaba de Sierra Nevada on October 2, 1964. In Granada, it is still remembered as “the French plane”.
Andrea, with a moving force, decided to move to the Zaidín neighborhood to be able to climb on foot to her son’s tomb in the cemetery. His daily duel ritual became an act of resistance, memory and maternal love. According to the organization of the contest, this story was selected for its authenticity, the quality of its narration and the ability to transmit universal emotions.
A competition where the emotional is the essential
In total, 15 stories of different cemeteries of the country were preselected. In the same category that Granada competes the Fuente de León Cemosphere (Badajoz), with “The pit of the boots with studs”, and the wheels Pintia (Valladolid), with a story set in the Iron Age.
The winners will be announced on June 19 in Madrid, in a ceremony where 7,000 euros will also be delivered as a prize. Beyond economic recognition, this contest seeks to revalue the role of cemeteries as places of heritage, history and memory.
Source: The debate.
