As the orphan of one of the 62 fallen, architect Diego Manuel Novo Menéndez was commissioned to design the memorial. In doing so, he hopes that the memorial will become a symbol for the city, and invite visitors to perceive the space as an experience of legacy, and an eternal embrace with Madrid.
Symbolizing the tragedy, at the entrance to the monument, two slender perpendicular black concrete walls 31 cm wide, each centimeter representing the lives of the 62, form a narrow and dramatic 14-meter corridor.
This route leads to the central quadrilateral that stages a space of life, reflection, and tribute, where the story of the 62 heroes can be learned. The main wall emerges from the earth with a disorderly composition of 62 perforations. While the secondary wall is the wall of memory where their names appear and their story is described.
Axonometry. Memorial to the victims of the Yak-42 by Diego Manuel Novo Menéndez.
Memorial to the victims of the Yak-42 by Diego Manuel Novo Menéndez. Photograph by Javier Bravo.
Description of project by Diego Manuel Novo Menéndez
The Afghan War was a conflict triggered by the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The US military launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001 by bombing Taliban positions.
NATO commissioned military action under a mandate from the United Nations, which authorized the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help the Afghans maintain security in Kabul. Spain, as a NATO member, approved the dispatch of troops on 27 December 2001.
A year and a half later, on 26 May 2003, a Russian civilian aircraft (Yak-42) was carrying 62 Spanish military personnel back to Spain after a four-month ISAF mission in Afghanistan and Enduring Freedom in Kyrgyzstan. The plane crashed with its 13 Ukrainian crew members near the Turkish city of Trebizond. Its 75 occupants perished in the disaster.
After 14 years and numerous legal proceedings, the Council of State (the highest consultative body of the Spanish government) held the Ministry of Defence responsible for the first time for the biggest peacetime tragedy of the army.
Days later, on 28 February 2017, the Plenary of the Madrid City Council unanimously approved the construction of a monument in memory of the 62 heroes.
The architect Diego Manuel Novo Menéndez was commissioned to design the memorial. The project was donated because he is the orphan of one of the fallen, Lieutenant Colonel Novo, who died at the age of 40.
Walking along the Paseo de Camoens in Madrid's Parque del Oeste, we come across two slender, perpendicular black concrete walls. Symbolizing tragedy, each wall is 31 cm wide, each centimeter representing the lives of the 62.
As you enter, you find yourself in a narrow, dramatic 14-meter corridor, called the journey to the truth. The black walls flank the route to the square where the visitor feels anguish, pain, silence, fear, darkness, unanswered questions... everything that 26 May represented for us. However, in the square there is light at the end of the tunnel, denoting the long road to discover the truth that their families began that cursed day.
The central quadrilateral is a space for life, reflection, and tribute, where we will learn about their history. The four orthogonal concrete blocks that compose it are 62 cm wide, paying homage to our heroes.
Two benches are positioned symmetrically to the two white walls. The visitor sits to think, pray, talk... to feel closer to the victims in this meeting place.
The main wall emerges from the ground with 62 perforations, the holes embodying the emptiness left in our hearts.
There are five types of openings according to their professional destination.-
- Zaragoza.- 21 large cubes.
- Burgos.- 20 small vertical prisms.
- Valencia.- 13 large vertical prisms.
- Madrid.- 7 horizontal premiums.
- Seville.- 1 small cube.
The disorderly composition of the drilling conveys their diversity. Different but united by their friendship regardless of age, race, origin, or rank, which the soldiers forged during their mission of peace, and which their families continue as a legacy.
We can never fill these gaps, yet their absences are revealed by the light when we look through them. Each time we contemplate the perforations will be different, there is a garden alive with the grove in the rear, as they are alive among us.
The secondary wall is the wall of memory where their names are listed, and their history is described. Attached to it is a small podium with a poem dedicated by the mother of another of the fallen, Commander Gonzalez.
It is hoped that this monument will become a symbolic place for the city, and invite the visitor to perceive the space as an experience of their legacy, and as an eternal embrace with Madrid.
Death does not exist, only those who are forgotten die, may this memorial help to keep their heroic history alive, as a tribute to those who cannot be with us today.
