for the Spain they believed to be better: in Montserrat

For the Spain they believed to be better: in Montserrat abbey The Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de  Monserrat mausoleum  According to the website of the Abbey of Monserrat (Barcelona) “the main aim of the Montserrat Benedictine community is to insure that the mountain, the Monastery and the Sanctuary remain place of where people gather and workship. The present community at Montserrat is made up of over seventy monks. As in all Benedictine monasteries, the Montserrat monks dedicate all their life to prayer, providings helter and work. Life in the monastery follows a set rhythm in which work and prayer both play a part, according to Saint Benedict's motto, Ora et labora. The clock is a useful tool for the monk, as making the most of time is essential in Montserrat.” Although the website of the Abbey of Montserrat offers accurate information about the Sanctuary, about the monastery of Santa Cecília and about the different hermitages surrounding the abbey, there is no information about a mausoleum at the entrance of the abbey, the Terç de Monserrat mausoleum, where 319 requetés were buried. The Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat was a battalion-type Carlist infantry unit, forming part of Nationalist troops during the Spanish Civil War. It is known as one of two Catalan units fighting against the Republican. It is also recognized as the unit which recorded extraordinarily high 20% killing in action ratio, with corresponding average Nationalist figure estimated at 6%. The bid to construct a mausoleum located within the Montserrat complex was initially opposed by Franco, who claimed that all the fallen should rest at Valle de los Caídos, the mausoleum was finally opened in 1961. In 1965 a requetè monument was unveiled in front of it; the original site layout was blurred in the decades to come. Commemorating crosses were erected also in Codo and in Vilalba dels Arcs (Tarragona). Today the Mausoleum remains closed and visitors are admitted by individual appointment. It is owned by Hermandad de Ex Combatientes del Tercio del Requeté de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat, the organisation founded in the late 1950s, which organizes a mass once a year. These photos were taken in January 2018 and shows the Terç de Monserrat mausoleum, the Plaça dels Apòstols and the monument to the Terç de Requetés de la Mare de Déu de  Monserrat. The sculpture is accompanied by this text in Catalan: "Recorda el seu exemple i sacrifici. Terç de Requetès Mare de Déu de Montserrat 1936-39." This monument was removed in January 2022.