Even though I haven't watched any news yet today, and therefore haven't seen more than still pictures from this - I must say that it feels like these commemorations were a very nice gesture of rememberance.
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KJC, QS and the Princes greet Madrid archbishop Jose Maria Rouco Varela, at their arrival for a memorial mass at the Almudena Cathedral. This mass was attended by the entire royal family.From GettyImages:
Please see the link provided below from Yahoo. It has a slideshow depicting people's pain on this "day of horror." It has beautiful pictures of how people in their own way paid tribute to the departed.
I caught a segment of the comemmoration this morning on the news and I was so touched. They showed the King and Queen and Felipe and Letizia bowing their heads during the five minutes of silence. I was really touched to see how (still) deeply moved and affected the royal family seemed one year later.
I also saw some pictures of empty chairs in front of the Reina Sofia Museum as an "installation exhibit" to mark all the lives lost one year ago. The planting of the cypress trees is also a lovely touch.
Amidst all the glamour and fashion watching of Frederik and Mary and Victoria in Australia, today's somber comemmoration and honour of the lives so tragically taken in Madrid a year ago reminds us of another important role of royals: To lead and unite when times are difficult.
I caught a segment of the comemmoration this morning on the news and I was so touched. They showed the King and Queen and Felipe and Letizia bowing their heads during the five minutes of silence. I was really touched to see how (still) deeply moved and affected the royal family seemed one year later.
I also saw some pictures of empty chairs in front of the Reina Sofia Museum as an "installation exhibit" to mark all the lives lost one year ago. The planting of the cypress trees is also a lovely touch.
Amidst all the glamour and fashion watching of Frederik and Mary and Victoria in Australia, today's somber comemmoration and honour of the lives so tragically taken in Madrid a year ago reminds us of another important role of royals: To lead and unite when times are difficult.
well said Alexandria.
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it's not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate.
The acts for the anniversary of 11-M remembered this Friday the victims of the attacks, with the presence of millions of citizens. The cardinal and archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco, celebrated a funeral mass, in which assured that terrorism will never have the last word, nor in the life of the towns, nor in the determination of its destinies.
More than one thousand people, half of them relatives of the victims, attended the religious memorial of the 192 people, who died a year ago. The attendants received the arrival of the Kings to the temple with applauses. Previously, Rouco Varela had given the welcome to the members of the Royal Family, on the stairs of the main access to the cathedral and accompanied them until the place reserved for them, on the right hand of the altar.
Silence and contained emotion (even if sometimes the tears could not be avoided) dominated the funeral, which began after the national hymn was listened, when the Royal Family entered the temple.
In his homily, the archbishop of Madrid alluded to the last book of John Paul II, "Memory and identity", where the Pontiff speaks on the "ill ideologies", and indicates among them "the contemporary theories that try to justify and/or to explain the present terrorism, concealing the hate that feeds them".
"A year ago - he said - we were gathered at this cathedral of Our Lady of the Almudena, as children who, before an enormous drama, tighten themselves next to their mother, to mitigate the pain and to wipe their tears".
The archbishop of Madrid added that "today, as yesterday, we take shelter on the fraternal communion that Christ has settled down between men, to console us with the certainty that death is not the last reality of the human life".
Assistants to the ceremony
All the Royal Family - the Kings, the Princes of Asturias and Dukes of Lugo and Palma - attended the funeral, which began at eight in the afternoon and was extended for something more than one hour.
It was also attended by the president of the Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, accompanied by his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa, in addition to the ministers of Justice (Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar) and Public Administrations, Jordi Sevilla. There was also was the president of PP, Mariano Rajoy.
The presidents of the Congress and Senado, Manuel Marín and Javier Rojo; of the General Council of the Judicial Power, Francisco Jose Hernando; of the Constitutional Court, Maria Emilia Casas; of the Council of State, Francisco Rubio Llorente, and the Defender of the Town, Enrique Múgica, were also present in this funeral for the victims of 11-M, next to other civilian and military authorities of the Community and the City council of Madrid.
On the banks of the Almudena they were also the General Secretary of UGT, Cándido Méndez, and CC.OO., Jose Maria Fidalgo, and the leader of Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares.
There were also wounded people in the attacks and relatives of the victims. At the doors of the temple, hundreds of people remained in the street, as were not able to accede to its interior.
Quiet concentrations
In all the Spanish cities, millions of people in quiet concentrations remembered at noon the 191 assassinated people of 11-M. At the same hour, the Kings of Spain added themselves to the silence and inaugurated, at the Park of the Retirement of Madrid, the Forest of the Absentees, a park of 192 cypresses and olive trees, in memory to the deaths.
The official doors of the City councils and other institutions, the work centers, the streets and squares were scene to the concentrations of five minutes, summoned by the Government and the Federation of Municipalities, and that were accompanied by the interruption by diverse transport services and of the commercial activity of many companies.
At the same hour, in the Retirement, the King and Queen presided over the act with a floral offering. They were accompanied by the Princes of Asturias, the presidents of the Government, Congress and Senate, and representatives of the political parties, among them the leader of the opposition, the Madrilenian Mariano Rajoy, and leaders Aguirre and Gallardón.
There were also foreign executive chiefs, like the King of Morocco, who has travelled to Spain specifically for the occasion, and twenty representatives of Security Government and Chiefs of State, who have attended the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, celebrated since day 8th.
Among them there were the General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Annan; the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai; the president of Senegal, Adboulay Wade; the president of Mauritania, Maauiya Uld you go Amhed Taya; the president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio; the Great Duke of Luxembourg; the High Representative of the UE for the foreign policy and of security, Javier Solana; the president of the European Parliament, Jose Borrell; and ambassadors of the 16 countries that lost some of their citizens in the attacks.
Tribute at 7:37 a.m.
The anniversary began very early in Madrid, at the same hour the attacks took place: at 7:37 in the morning. Then the bells of the 650 churches of the city started to double, while, at the Puerta del Sol, before the facade of the regional seat of the government, the president of the Community, Esperanza Aguirre, accompanied by representatives of the victims, deposited a crown of laurel.
With the flags of all the official buildings in mourning position, five minutes of silence were kept at the same hour of the attacks.
The mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, and several councilmen participated next to many citizens in the five minutes of silence kept in the station of Atocha at 7:37 a.m.. Although the movement of trains was normal to that hour, the atmosphere among the passengers was different and touching, and the memory of what happened was reflected on the face of all.
As part of the first anniversary of the 11th March terrorist attacks, a funeral-mass was celebrated yesterday at 8 p.m. in Madrid cathedral of La Almudena, with the attendance of the Spanish Royal Family and different government representatives.
Photos from ImagineScandinavia:
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