The UB launches a digital portal to document the public memory of the Third Carlist War

The project, led by Professor David Cao, identifies and maps monuments, place names and commemorations from 1874 to 1939 linked to the conflict.

Research into the memory of the Third Carlist War (1872–1876) has taken a step forward with the launch of memoriesdecombat.cat, a digital portal promoted by David Cao Costoya, professor at the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Barcelona, and the Patronat d’Estudis Osonencs. The website identifies, analyses and maps the public memory initiatives that sustained the memory of this conflict in Catalonia between 1874 and 1939.

The portal compiles the results of an initial phase of research carried out mainly between 2023 and 2025, focusing on writings produced between 1874 and 1939 relating to the last of the Carlist Wars (1872–1876). From this period, the project identified elements from three areas of the memorial repertoire — urban place names, monuments, and commemorative anniversaries — which were also analysed, and mapped, with 83 examples presented, located in 20 regions of Catalonia.

The Carlist Wars were a defining feature of the 19^th century and a notable example of the revolution and counterrevolution dialectic that shaped the emergence of the contemporary world. As explained in the website’s introduction, their impact did not disappear with the end of hostilities; rather, this violent past continued to serve as a persistent reference point in public life during the Spanish Bourbon Restoration and the Second Republic. Subsequently, the Civil War (1936-1939) and the Franco regime imposed a new memorial landscape that displaced or erased many of the documented initiatives.

Memòries de Combat offers a selection of material, graphic and documentary evidence that provides an insight into how the memory of the Carlist Wars was created and transmitted. The study combines a description of the preserved material — photographically recorded in its current state — with research in historical press and civil, military and ecclesiastical archives.

The project aims to expand in future phases to address the memory of the Carlist Wars, incorporate other territories, and extend cataloguing to new memorial devices beyond the three areas currently being studied.

David Cao Costoya is a professor of Contemporary History at the UB and a researcher in 19^th-century political culture and historical memory. His research focuses on analysing the public uses of the past and the processes of constructing collective memories in contexts of political conflict.