Concert “In Memoriam”

Today is the fifth anniversary of Spain’s worst terrorist attacks. On the occasion, the Prince and the Princess of Asturias attended the Concert “In Memoriam” in honor of the victims. The concert was organized by Fundacion Victimas del Terrorismo (Victims of Terrorism Foundation) and was performed by the Orchestra of the Community of Madrid, directed by Jose Ramon Encinar.

On the morning of March 11, 2004 (two months before the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Asturias) a series of coordinated bombings against the train system of Madrid killed 191 people and injured 1,800, and three weeks later a Special Forces officer died in a suicide attack while trying to arrest suspects.

Just a few hours after the explosions Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and his then fiancee, Letizia Ortiz, arrived at hospitals to offer their support and solidarity to the victims, and a few days later the whole world could see the tears of the Spanish Royal Family when they attended the state funeral.

To mark the first anniversary of the tragedy, the Royal Family presided over inauguration of a park named the Forest of the Absents, where 192 olive and cypress trees were planted to honour the bomb victims.

In 2004, before the royal wedding the citizens of Madrid presented to Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz a firework and multi-media display, but at the express desire of the Prince Felipe the pyrotechnics were cancelled, so the money from the gift could be used in the construction of a monument to the victims. And it was, the past year the King and Queen of Spain and the Prince and Princess of Asturias attended the inauguration of a monument, outside Atocha rail station, to commemorate the victims of terrorism. Made with glass bricks, the biggest ever made, it stands 11m high and is the work of FAM architects. In the interior of the monument a dome shows many of the spontaneous messages that people left, in many languages, in the days and months after the 3/11/2004 attacks.

Click here to watch video from Yahoo.es

Filed under Spain
Tagged Concert, Felipe VI of Spain, Memorial, Queen Letizia of Spain, Terrorism.