As part of the commemorative events of the 50th anniversary of the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, the Barcelona City Hall inaugurated this Monday the exhibition “And after Franco, what? (1965-1975)’ and plans to organize a conference on “ … democratic feminism. Both events have a cost of around 400,000 public euros, according to the Official Journal of Barcelona published on Monday. This amount is part of the amount of more than 20 million euros that the government is allocating to remember that Franco died half a century ago.
Installed in the former Modelo prison, the exhibition “And after Franco, what?” (1965-1975)’ offers a reflection through the last years of the Franco regime and the projects which began to develop before the inevitable death of the dictator. The exhibition is organized by Andreu Mayayo and José Manuel Rúa and is organized into two galleries that “dialogue with each other”: one focuses on the agony of Franco, the repression and international reactions; and the other shows the alternatives that were developing in the political, social and cultural spheres.
The exhibition focuses on Franco’s agony, repression, international reactions and the alternatives that were developing.
The exhibition will last during the first half of 2026 and the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, led by Ángel Víctor Torres, has contributed 293,000 euros (spread over two years, 230,000 corresponding to 2025 and 63,000 next year). For his part, the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB), depending on the municipality, allocated an additional 100,000 euros to the exhibition to coordinate and supervise this exhibition as well as the conferences on “democratic feminism” of the last years of the Franco regime.
For this second exhibition, the Torres Ministry will also contribute an additional 8,000 euros. A smaller figure, yes, if we take into account that 20.3 million euros will be allocated to the campaign baptized by Moncloa “50 years of Spain in freedom”. As ABC published in March, of this amount, 12.3 million was allocated to cover the costs of more than a hundred events that the executive sponsors and An additional 8.05 million (nearly 40% of the amount), to publicize all the events.
With this initiative and despite the fact that democracy in Spain was launched a few years later, with the Constitution, The government of Pedro Sánchez wants to set the starting point of democracy in 1975 and, therefore, “celebrate the conquest and consolidation of democracy in Spain as the most significant historical achievement of Spanish society, with the democratic principles and values enshrined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 being the key to building a stronger society and a commitment to coexistence.”
Thus, in collaboration with the municipality, the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory promotes this type of activities, as indicated in the agreement signed by the two administrations, “democratic memory” with the aim of promoting “a citizenship committed to human rights, particularly among younger generations, through the memory of a dark stage in our history which allows us to value the importance of its conquest and its defense”. And “within this framework”, recognize “the role of women in claiming their rights over time”.
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