Abstract
<jats:p>Fifty years after the death of Francisco Franco, the divisive and complex legacy of his dictatorship remains a political and cultural battleground in contemporary Spain. Many thousands of victims of that regime are estimated to remain buried in mass graves throughout the country and demands for acknowledgement of the human rights violations perpetrated by the regime continue to be at the forefront of much political and social debate. A key component of these discussions concerns how to deal with the physical reminders of a contested past. Despite legislative intervention and the intense advocacy of civic associations, numerous material markers of the Francoist dictatorship continue to occupy public spaces in Spain. Within the context of the commemorative events of 2025 and the broader memory debates in contemporary Spain, this paper examines different approaches to dealing with the material heritage of the dictatorship as part of ongoing attempts to address Spain’s “dissonant” or “difficult” heritage of civil war and dictatorship.</jats:p>