BETWEEN DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE
Upon the discovery of the flag, Mariana was detained and placed under house arrest. An attempted escape led to her being interned in the nunnery of Santa María Egipcíaca on the night of 27
th March
(E.59). This was a convent-cum-jailhouse founded at the end of the 16
th century and devised for the taking in, custodianship and reform of women of
dissolute lifestyle or those sentenced by the law as delinquents
(V.C.15,
V.C.13,
V.C.10 and V.C.14). The current name of the street where this was located, Recogidas, takes its name from the function performed of
retreat.
Her trial was swift, behind closed doors, without summons for the accused and barely displaying evidence, sentencing her to death by garrotting. On 24th of May, she was transferred to the Baja Jailhouse, where she would remain in the chapel for two days until the day of her execution (E.45). This now disappeared prison, almost. bordering the ‘Pardon’ Gateway of the Cathedral, gave its name to the street that had yet to be divided by the construction of the Gran Vía thoroughfare.
On 26th May 1831, the executioner put the sackcloth and black cap on her, while tying her hands with a rope, with great composure, protected by the Monks of the Peace and Charity orders, along with the crowd who clamoured to bid her farewell, she rode saddled on a mule through the streets of Baja Jailhouse and Elvira to the gallows. This was located on an esplanade on the Campo del Triunfo, before the Elvira Gateway (V.C.19) and in a space highly transformed at the present time due to the reforms and construction work undertaken in the 19th century. In the place where the gallows were located, the modern-day Libertad square, a metal cross held by a wooden pedestal was erected in her honour in 1840 (V.C.17).
In this scene in the work Heroine of Freedom she is immortalised for not snitching on her accomplices in exchange for a pardon (V.C.16 and E.47).
Mariana was buried in the now disappeared Almengor Cemetery in the parish of Saint Idlelfonso (V.C.12). Despite her death, her memory lived on. On that very same night a sole wooden cross was all that was placed on Mariana’s grave as homage to her heroic act for the liberal cause.
After the death of Fernando VII in 1833 and the abolition of the Salic Law, which prevented women from governing, it was the monarch’s mother, María Cristina de Borbón, who would take the throne due to the as the sole daughter from the marriage, Isabel, was underage. Due to the foregoing, and the issue of dynastic succession, the support of liberal groups was leaned on against the absolutist factions led by Carlos, the brother of the king who aspired to the throne.
Within this context, following the reestablishment of the Constitution, in 1836 the evocation of Mariana and the acknowledgement of her sacrifice in the name of freedom came to light through the order for her corpse to be exhumed (V.C.1 and V.C.2), the report (V.C.5) and transfer via carriage (V.C.3) of her remains in a wooden urn beautifully decorated by Francisco Enríquez (E.49). A series of distinguished acts were organised, along with a solemn burial on the anniversary of her death, with the Freedom Festival being inaugurated in her honour (V.C.11 and V.C.18). Since then, and until the present day, this annual event has been celebrated (V.C.7) particularly on the anniversaries of her birth and death, except when the political establishment in power in the country has prevented it.
Thus, it is worth mentioning the homages made by renowned national politicians and figures from the artworld on the centenary of her death (1931), coinciding with the development of the Second Spanish Republic (E.54 and E.55).
The creation of monuments in her memory was also present in her tributes. In 1836, in the centre of what was then the Bailén Square, the decision was made to raise a monument in honour of Mariana (V.C.4) through the celebration of a National Sculpture Contest whose winner would provide the piece (E.50, E.51, E.60 and E.52) and whose costs would be borne through the organisation of a series of cultural shows (V.C.6). After a lengthy wait (V.C.8), the Monument, designed and built by Francisco Morales and his protégé Miguel Marín, was finally unveiled on 26th May 1873, against the backdrop of the First Spanish Republic. The square would from then on be known as that of Mariana de Pineda, La Mariana.
Her glorification and mythification as a liberal heroine are depicted in a decorated circular border (E.57) in which she appears flanked by illustrious figures of Spanish liberalism, accompanied by the activist also executed in 1831, José María de Torrijos.
From 1856 until the present day, Mariana’s remains lie in repose in the underground crypt of the Cathedral of Granada, where twice a year, on the day of the festival of the deceased and on the anniversary of her death, visits to her tomb are allowed.
Traductora: Monika A. Jakacka Márquez
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