Cuelgamuros monks denounce RTVE for unauthorized filming of crypts

The Benedictine community of the Cuelgamuros Abbey (formerly the Valley of the Fallen) has issued a formal complaint against RTVE, alleging that the public broadcaster filmed the interior of the basilica's crypts without permission. The dispute arises ahead of the Donostia Festival projection of the documentary ‘Cuelgamuros, entre lo difícil y lo imposible’.

In a statement, the monks clarified that while they authorized recordings of the Holy Mass and the Escolanía, they never granted access to audiovisual teams to film the crypts or the ossuaries. They emphasized that the crypts are a sacred site housing the remains of tens of thousands of people from the Spanish Civil War and religious persecution, stating, “They are not museum material or an audiovisual resource.”

The community expressed that their primary concern is moral and religious, demanding that the dignity of the deceased be preserved and that the public exhibition of their remains be avoided. While they respect legal requests for the identification and exhumation of ancestors, they argue that filming and publicly exhibiting human remains without descendant authorization is a violation of privacy and dignity.