The Exile Memorial Museum (MUME in its Catalan initials) is an interpretation centre dedicated to the memory of exiles of the Spanish and Catalan Civil Wars; especially those defeated in the fight which was the prelude to the Second World War. Many of the people exiled in 1939 continued to fight for freedom from the ranks of the resistance and from other war fronts in Europe. A few thousand were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Others returned, willingly or by force, to Franco’s Spain, where some underwent persecution, imprisonment, or faced death and all of them suffered the torture of the imposed silence of their internal exile. A large number of them were forced to seek asylum thousands of miles away. Located on the same border crossing where most of the exiles fled, the MUME combines museum functions, through its permanent and temporary exhibitions, with those of historical research and for pedagogical dissemination.
Photograph showing the inside of the building which now houses the Exile Memorial Museum (MUME) premises. This image is part of the photographic collection of the MUME itself, and is dated 1920. A number of people having a celebration can be seen as well as the whole room which was decorated for the occasion. It’s interesting to observe how this part of the building is now completely modified, as a result of having adapted the existing facilities to the new needs of exhibition.
Literary Text
On the eve of Saint Lucia’s day, from four in the afternoon and throughout the night, vehicles of all kinds full of pilgrims arrived on the road heading to France, spending the night in La Jonquera, waiting for the morning to go up to the sanctuary. The whole of the street named Carrer Major is packed with these pilgrims. The people of La Jonquera present the French with their sardana dances and ballets in the square until the final hours of the evening; the grisettes from Roussillon, with their elegant hats, combined with our graceful artisan scarves on our heads: everyone speaks Catalan.
FESTA DE SANTA LLÚCIA (FESTIVAL OF SAINT LUCIA) by Carles Bosch de la Trinxeria
This text comes from the Literary Atlas of the lands of Girona, coordinated by Narcís Jordi Aragó and Mariàngela Vilallonga and published by Girona Provincial Council in 2003.
Location
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Carrer Major 49, 17700 La Junquera, Provincia de Gerona, España
Category
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