Fossar de les Moreres
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The Fossar de les Moreres is a memorial plaza in Barcelona (Catalonia), adjacent to the basilica of Santa Maria del Mar. The plaza was built over a cemetery where defenders of the city were buried following the Siege of Barcelona at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. The plaza retains its everyday use as a public space, but also prominently features a memorial to the fallen Catalonians of the war with the torch with the eternal flame and the heroic poem "El Fossar de les Moreres", by Frederic Soler.
As in the Spanish Civil War over 200 years later, in the War of Spanish Succession, Catalonia suffered a catastrophic loss of autonomy after revolting against the Kingdom of Castile and fighting on the side of Spain's enemies (Britain and its allies). The subsequent "Decretos de Nueva Planta" ("Decrees of thee New Institution") abolished all Catalan laws and institutions and subjected the region to heavy taxation as a consequence of losing the war.
At a later date the public use of the Catalan language was banned. Never one to accept a central absolutist regime, Catalonia's remembrance of the heroes of the war is as relevant to the city's history today as it was back then.
The original cemetery in which Barcelona's defenders were buried was paved over, and the plaza was born with the urbanization of parochial cemeteries in 1821 under pressure from King Charles III of Spain and General Castaños.
The Fossar de les Moreres is an important place of remembrance every year during the National Day of Catalonia (Diada Nacional de Catalunya in Catalan). The holiday commemorates the date on which Barcelona fell, 11 September, and Catalans yearly make homage to the defenders of city who where killed and are buried at the memorial.
An excerpt from the poem "El Fossar de les Moreres", a romantic description of the siege, reads:
Al fossar de les moreres
no s'hi enterra cap traïdor;
fins perdent nostres banderes
serà l'urna de l'honor.
This is translated into English as:
In the graveyard of the mulberry trees
no traitor shall be buried;
even if our flags are lost,
it will be the urn of honor
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