Monument in memory of General Sanjurjo, Cascais

Following an amnesty granted in March 1934, General José Sanjurjo y Sacanell (1872-1936), responsible for a failed rising against the Spanish Republic, lived in exile in Estoril, Portugal. He was involved in the plot which preceded the Spanish army’s rising in July 1936, and was meant to take command of the rebellious forces once he had set foot on Spanish soil. To that end he was scheduled to fly from Cascais, near his home, courtesy of long-standing admirer, and renowned Spanish pilot, Juan Antonio Ansaldo. The plane chosen for the mission, however, was not suited to the task, given Sanjurjo’s  heavy luggage, and it crashed on take off, killing Sanjurjo. Ansaldo survived, and went on to serve with the Nationalist Air Force during the war. Sanjurjo’s death facilitated General Franco’s rise to the top of the Nationalist camp.

In 1961, on the 25th anniversary of Sanjurjo’s death, a small monument was built on the site of the crash by ‘his comrades at arms’.  In the shape of across, atop a rough boulder, it now stands incongruously in the wealthy Quinta da Marinha neighbourhood. A comparison with photographs taken earlier shows that it has been moved so as to facilitate traffic. The inscription is  increasingly illegible, denoting the lack of attention paid to it by the local authorities. It states that Sanjurjo died while attempting to return to Spain in order to join the “glorious national rising”. The small size of the monument suggests that there was little official enthusiasm for its construction, be it on the Spanish side, be it on the Portuguese.