Congreso de los Diputados: The Bullet Holes of 23-F
Why is it significant?
Two bronze lions sit on their pedestals at the foot of the steps of the Congreso de los Diputados, and the story goes that they were cast from the metal of cannons captured in Spain's war in Morocco in 1860.
Key Facts
| Place | Congreso de los Diputados: The Bullet Holes of 23-F |
|---|---|
| Address | Carrera de San Jerónimo, 28014 Madrid, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.41640, -3.69700 |
| Part of Walk | Avenue of Shells: Madrid Under Siege and the Road to Democracy |
| Generated | Generated |
Two bronze lions sit on their pedestals at the foot of the steps of the Congreso de los Diputados, and the story goes that they were cast from the metal of cannons captured in Spain's war in Morocco in 1860.
The building itself, with its six-column portico, was opened in 1850 and has housed Spain's lower chamber ever since, through monarchies, a republic and a dictatorship. Under Franco, the Cortes that met here were a chamber without real power. Then, on 15 June 1977, Spaniards voted in their first free general election in more than four decades, and in December 1978 a referendum approved the constitution that still governs the country.
On the evening of 23 February 1981, the deputies were voting to confirm Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo as prime minister. At about twenty past six, Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero of the Guardia Civil burst into the chamber with armed men, pistol in hand, and ordered everyone to the floor. Shots were fired into the ceiling. Television cameras kept rolling. Almost every deputy dropped behind the benches. Three did not: the outgoing prime minister Adolfo Suárez, the deputy prime minister General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, who stood up to confront the intruders, and the communist leader Santiago Carrillo, who stayed in his seat.
The night that followed was the longest of the transition. In Valencia, tanks under General Milans del Bosch rolled into the streets. Then, after one in the morning, King Juan Carlos appeared on television in uniform and ordered the armed forces to uphold the constitutional order. By midday on the 24th the deputies walked out free, and the coup had failed.
Inside the chamber, the bullet holes in the ceiling were never filled in. They were left on purpose, a reminder written in plaster above every debate. Four years before that night, though, the transition had already been tested by violence of another kind. Walk south through the narrow streets to Calle de Atocha to find where.