San Miguel Historical Cemetery
CRUZ DE TORRIJOS
TORRIJOS’ CROSS
The San Miguel cemetery has laid witness to standout and transcending historical events for the whole nation. In Málaga, December 1831, General José María Torrijos and his 48 companions were imprisoned. Their intention was to proclaim the Constitution in a period in which King Fernando VII stood firm, absurdly, on the vision of maintaining an absolutist regime that had already been surpassed in the rest of the European monarchies.
The King’s order was unwavering. On the morning of 11th December, they were executed in various waves on the San Andrés beach. Common prisoners were instructed to transfer the dead bodies in their own rubbish carts to the San Miguel cemetery. The resolve of Torrijo’s widow was crucial so that his and Juan López Pinto’s bodies were buried in quality funerary recesses, situated near the entrance to the cemetery. The British Consul rescued Robert Boyd, the only Englishman among the executed, who they buried in the British cemetery.
The rest were buried in common graves that had been dug at the back, outside the cemetery. It’s not a coincidence that this collective tomb was excluded from the mural as it encroached on the space that was considered sacred, and even that was denied. Today, a simple wooden cross stands over this somber setting.
In 1842, now under a liberal and constitutional regime, all human remains were exhumed and placed in what would be their definitive home: the mausoleum monument found in La Plaza de la Merced. Years later, the cemetery was extended yet the monument remained within the walls, albeit slowly falling into oblivion. In 2014, La Plaza de la Merced was identified through placing a jasper stone cross on a pedestal. The inscription on the front explains the motive behind this monument, that pays homage and remembrance to all those considered martyrs of freedom today.
In 2018, the monument was completed by placing a composition that the sculptor Juan Vega had sculpted at its feet, with the relief of Torrijos’ face together with a laurel leaf and a parchment with the text that the General wrote to his wife, just hours before her death:
“To my dearest and cherished Luisa: I am about to die, but I will die as the brave do. You know my principles, you know how loyal I have been to them, and by being perished, I place my fortune in God’s mercy, I value little the judgements that the people will make […] There is only one step between life and death, and I will take it being serene in both body and spirit […] be satisfied knowing that up until my final breath I have loved you with all my heart […] we will meet again at heaven’s gate where undoubtedly we will reunite.
Yours forever until death.
José María de Torrijos”
Texts: Francisco J. Rodriguez Marin · English Translation: Francisco Pineda Castillo and Sonny Arthur Tuke · English Narration: Sonny Arthur Tuke · Production: Photo Video Digital