“The Carlist War left a lasting mark still visible in Catalonia’s landscape and collective memory”
News
|
Culture
|
Dissertation
(17/07/2025)
A research team led by David Cao, professor at the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Barcelona, and the Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs has launched a pioneering project to identify and study the material and symbolic memory left behind in Catalonia by the Third Carlist War (1872–1875). The initiative, coordinated under the COMMON project (Digital Inventory of Monuments and Commemorations of the Carlist Wars), has received a €10,000 grant from the Creu Casas Sicart 2025 grants, aimed at promoting research at the local and regional level. It focuses on the last Carlist War, but is expected to be extended to the other Carlist Wars in future phases.
News
|
Culture
|
Dissertation
17/07/2025
A research team led by David Cao, professor at the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Barcelona, and the Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs has launched a pioneering project to identify and study the material and symbolic memory left behind in Catalonia by the Third Carlist War (1872–1875). The initiative, coordinated under the COMMON project (Digital Inventory of Monuments and Commemorations of the Carlist Wars), has received a €10,000 grant from the Creu Casas Sicart 2025 grants, aimed at promoting research at the local and regional level. It focuses on the last Carlist War, but is expected to be extended to the other Carlist Wars in future phases.
The project is part of a joint initiative promoted by the Vives Network of Universities, the Ramon Muntaner Institute and the Catalan Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (ICRPC-CERCA), with the aim of highlighting an often overlooked heritage: monuments, gravestones, civic festivals and place names that have a living memory that keeps them alive. “This is a line of research we have been working on systematically since 2023”, says David Cao. “Memories linked to this traumatic past were very much present in many Catalan towns, in some cases, until the 1936-1939 Civil War”.
The research team has documented more than 60 memorials — monuments, commemorations and street names — across 17 Catalan regions. This detailed and decentralized work has benefited from the collaboration of various local study centres, regional archives and heritage research institutions, such as the Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs, the Institut d’Estudis Empordanesos, the Espitllera-Fòrum d’Estudis Segarrencs, the Patronat d’Estudis Històrics d’Olot i Comarca, the Ripollès Regional Studies Centre and the Granollers Study Centre.
The analysis draws on several sources — historical newspapers, municipal documentation, parish archives, military records and historical photographs. “We have realized that the phenomenon is greater in scale and presence than we had anticipated”, says Cao. “In some places, the commemorative activity was very significant and long-lasting”.
In addition to its historical and heritage value, the research team highlights the methodological complexity of a project of this nature. “When documenting all these memorial elements, we have drawn on a wide variety of sources”, explains Cao. This diversity has required the cooperation of local archives and entities, since, as the professor adds, “the presence of this memory in the territory is quite widespread”. A revealing aspect of the study is how Carlist commemorations coexisted for decades with other rival memories. This overlap gave rise to veritable “memory wars”, with episodes of symbolic violence and political tension. “We have identified numerous examples of opposition to liberal and republican memorial initiatives, which reveals that these pasts recovered for the present could have both cohesive and disruptive potential”, says Cao.
According to the professor, the project not only recovers Carlist memory, but also analyses the multiple narratives that have disputed the memory of the conflict: “We study memories — plural. We are particularly interested in how different memorial initiatives compete to impose themselves in public discourse”. This perspective broadens the focus to include commemorations promoted by liberal and republican cultures, and analyses episodes of symbolic confrontation, from the destruction of monuments to conflicts over urban nomenclature.
Among the key examples are the now-destroyed General Cabrinetty in Puigcerdà, (1936), and the monument in Llaés, linked to the execution of police officers in 1874. Annual commemorations in Cervera and Puigcerdà continued until 1936, underscoring the longevity of Carlist memory in public life. “It is exceptional that a Pyrenean town like Puigcerdà already had two public monuments dedicated to this warlike past in the 1880s”, Cao points out. “And in the case of Cervera, streets such as Combat and Porta de la Victòria still preserve the memory of those clashes”.
The research team has documented more than 60 memorials — monuments, commemorations and street names — across 17 Catalan regions. This detailed and decentralized work has benefited from the collaboration of various local study centres, regional archives and heritage research institutions, such as the Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs, the Institut d’Estudis Empordanesos, the Espitllera-Fòrum d’Estudis Segarrencs, the Patronat d’Estudis Històrics d’Olot i Comarca, the Ripollès Regional Studies Centre and the Granollers Study Centre.
The analysis draws on several sources — historical newspapers, municipal documentation, parish archives, military records and historical photographs. “We have realized that the phenomenon is greater in scale and presence than we had anticipated”, says Cao. “In some places, the commemorative activity was very significant and long-lasting”.
In addition to its historical and heritage value, the research team highlights the methodological complexity of a project of this nature. “When documenting all these memorial elements, we have drawn on a wide variety of sources”, explains Cao. This diversity has required the cooperation of local archives and entities, since, as the professor adds, “the presence of this memory in the territory is quite widespread”. A revealing aspect of the study is how Carlist commemorations coexisted for decades with other rival memories. This overlap gave rise to veritable “memory wars”, with episodes of symbolic violence and political tension. “We have identified numerous examples of opposition to liberal and republican memorial initiatives, which reveals that these pasts recovered for the present could have both cohesive and disruptive potential”, says Cao.
According to the professor, the project not only recovers Carlist memory, but also analyses the multiple narratives that have disputed the memory of the conflict: “We study memories — plural. We are particularly interested in how different memorial initiatives compete to impose themselves in public discourse”. This perspective broadens the focus to include commemorations promoted by liberal and republican cultures, and analyses episodes of symbolic confrontation, from the destruction of monuments to conflicts over urban nomenclature.
Among the key examples are the now-destroyed General Cabrinetty in Puigcerdà, (1936), and the monument in Llaés, linked to the execution of police officers in 1874. Annual commemorations in Cervera and Puigcerdà continued until 1936, underscoring the longevity of Carlist memory in public life. “It is exceptional that a Pyrenean town like Puigcerdà already had two public monuments dedicated to this warlike past in the 1880s”, Cao points out. “And in the case of Cervera, streets such as Combat and Porta de la Victòria still preserve the memory of those clashes”.
A project led by David Cao and Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs, with the support of the Vives Network of Universities and the Institut Ramon Muntaner, is restoring monuments, commemorations and place names linked to the Third Carlist War in Catalonia.
The project also breaks down stereotypes. Although often seen as a rural, conservative movement, Carlism has had a strong presence in urban areas. “Carlist armed groups were active in towns such as Mataró, Igualada, Terrassa and Granollers between 1872 and 1875”, recalls Cao.
The research team participating in the project consists of Anna Bach, Joan Torrents and Raúl Cuenca from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Alba Masramon, Laia Masnou, Oriol Dueñas and Laia Gallego from the University of Barcelona, and independent researcher Arnau Dorca. Together, they have built a collaborative research project that connects the academic world with the territory.
The COMMON project also opens up a new avenue for reinterpreting the role of Carlism in Catalan history. Far from being an anecdotal or marginal movement, Carlism had a profound influence on 19th-century society. “The Carlist Wars are not just dynastic conflicts. They are part of a dialectic of revolution and counter-revolution that accompanies the construction of the contemporary world”, says Cao. “Studying them brings us closer to central issues such as the politicization of the working classes, the construction of the Spanish liberal state, and the creation of collective imaginaries with great staying power”. An example of their historical significance is the human and social cost of the conflict. “If we refer specifically to the Third Carlist War, we estimate that at times it involved the armed mobilization of 25,000 to 50,000 people and that there were approximately 5,000 deaths for the years 1872-1875”.
That is why he insists that Carlism must be understood as a structural component of contemporary history. “It is a long-lasting movement, capable of adaptation and transformation, which knew how to connect with militant Catholicism, transmitting its memory through family and community networks. We must reject the idea of a univocal Carlism: historically, it has been pluralistic”.
“The 19th century tends to be relegated to the realm of contemporary history”, concludes the professor. “And that makes it easier for biased clichés or simplistic views of those processes to persist”. With this study, the UB reaffirms its commitment to applied research, regional collaboration and the dissemination of historical knowledge. The results of the project will be shared through a public online repository and a travelling exhibition, which will help make these results accessible for both local communities and heritage professionals.
The research team participating in the project consists of Anna Bach, Joan Torrents and Raúl Cuenca from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Alba Masramon, Laia Masnou, Oriol Dueñas and Laia Gallego from the University of Barcelona, and independent researcher Arnau Dorca. Together, they have built a collaborative research project that connects the academic world with the territory.
The COMMON project also opens up a new avenue for reinterpreting the role of Carlism in Catalan history. Far from being an anecdotal or marginal movement, Carlism had a profound influence on 19th-century society. “The Carlist Wars are not just dynastic conflicts. They are part of a dialectic of revolution and counter-revolution that accompanies the construction of the contemporary world”, says Cao. “Studying them brings us closer to central issues such as the politicization of the working classes, the construction of the Spanish liberal state, and the creation of collective imaginaries with great staying power”. An example of their historical significance is the human and social cost of the conflict. “If we refer specifically to the Third Carlist War, we estimate that at times it involved the armed mobilization of 25,000 to 50,000 people and that there were approximately 5,000 deaths for the years 1872-1875”.
That is why he insists that Carlism must be understood as a structural component of contemporary history. “It is a long-lasting movement, capable of adaptation and transformation, which knew how to connect with militant Catholicism, transmitting its memory through family and community networks. We must reject the idea of a univocal Carlism: historically, it has been pluralistic”.
“The 19th century tends to be relegated to the realm of contemporary history”, concludes the professor. “And that makes it easier for biased clichés or simplistic views of those processes to persist”. With this study, the UB reaffirms its commitment to applied research, regional collaboration and the dissemination of historical knowledge. The results of the project will be shared through a public online repository and a travelling exhibition, which will help make these results accessible for both local communities and heritage professionals.
David Cao is a professor of Contemporary History at the UB and an expert researcher in political culture, historical memory, and commemorative rituals. He is co-editor of La muerte pública (2025) and is part of the team working on the Compared post-wars project (POSCOM) and the Símbolos en disputa en la España contemporánea project. His research focuses on the analysis of forms of public remembrance, especially in contexts of conflict and social transformation.