Peter Fieldman

Guided tours to remember Spanish Civil War

By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 19 Feb 2015 • 5:00

KNOWLEDGEABLE GUIDE: Dr Almudena Cros.

To find out more about the available tours and prices visit the web site: ACROSS MADRID or email info@acrossmadrid.com.

A donation from the proceeds of this particular itinerary will be made to the Friends of the International Brigades Association (Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales/AABI).

ACROSS Madrid Tours is a newly-created concept designed to offer visitors the opportunity to learn about the culture, history and architecture of Madrid.

Visit the Prado and Reina Sofia museums, the principal sights of the capital, and of course, bars for tapas tasting, in small groups with specialist guides.

There is also a choice of tours organised for children.

However, what makes Across Madrid unique are the tours to discover the events, which took place in and around Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. These include visiting the battle sites where Nationalist troops and the International Brigades were engaged in heavy fighting at Jarama and Brunete as well as in the centre of Madrid.

These specialist tours are selected and led by Dr Almudena Cros, a researcher on the subject whose family was directly involved in the war. Dr Cros, who has degrees from Warwick University and is Professor of History at the American Suffolk University in Madrid, has been working for a number of years as a consultant, interviewer and interpreter on numerous projects, books and documentaries related to the Spanish Civil War and has lectured on the subject. Her first-hand knowledge and ample experience interviewing war veterans and survivors brings to life the realities of the conflict and its aftermath in an unparalleled manner.

The first half of the tour reconstructs what the city centre looked like in the war, with the help of photographs from that period.

Dr Cros will share her family’s wartime story in her native Madrid, illustrated by their photographs and documents of the time. The use of authentic materials recovered from battlefields and military memorabilia provides an exceptional insight into the Spanish Civil War.

Dr Cros is deeply involved in organising and attending commemorative trips, events and ceremonies related to the International Brigades in Spain and other countries as well as helping relatives of the volunteers trace the steps of their family members during the Spanish Civil War.