The conmemoration of the sieges of Gerona in the 19th and the 20th centuries.

Abstract

The article tells the story of one of the oldest commemoration in con-temporary Catalonia, the one of the three sieges of Gerona between 1808 and 1809 by napoleonian army This cult, very early identified to the character of general Alvarez de Castro, expanded in the second decade of the XIXth century and then, disapeared until 1840. From the middle of the century, the Peninsula War memory expressed itself by differents means: his-toriography, poetry, theatre, literature. Between 1880 and 1894, the Héroes of 1809 occupied the whole commemorative scenary However, the cente-nary took place in the unfavourable context of catalanism rising; because since the end of the century, this cult expressed a spanish neocatholic and militarist nationalism, that did not stop increasing with the XX century dictatorships. It is not surprising that the sieges' memory began to fall down with the democratic transition. Through that memory, we can follow the rooting of spanish nationalism in Catalonia, in a local versión well lin-ked to the national mythology.