The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid has ordered the precautionary suspension of surveys on the esplanade of Valle de Cuelgamuros. The measure responds to a complaint by the Asociación para la Reconciliación y la Verdad Histórica citing the lack of a license and the monument's status as a cultural asset. The works, started on June 8, are part of the preliminary phase of the resignification project driven by the central government.
The ruling by the sixth section of the administrative litigation chamber, signed by magistrate Cristina Cadenas Cortina and magistrates Javier Aguayo Mejía and Ramón Fernández Flórez, holds that the works could cause damage to the monumental complex and that there are reasons of urgency. The court notes that it is notorious that Valle de Cuelgamuros enjoys maximum protection as a cultural interest asset.
The central government has clarified that the surveys consist only of an on-site data collection campaign to prepare a geotechnical study and that the resignification works have not yet begun. Executive sources consulted by Europa Press indicated that these works are routine and prior to any technical project.
The judicial resolution reproduces the argument presented by the anti-memorialist association, which has spent years requesting the declaration of the Valley as a cultural interest asset. The Community of Madrid has confirmed that the complex is not included in its catalog of protected buildings and that the competence for that declaration corresponds to the Ministry of Culture.
