Zaragoza’s then mayor, Pedro Santisteve, inaugurated the site at a roundabout in the park. The names of Ana, Adelina, Blanca, Carmen, Dionisia, Elena, Joaquina, Julia, Luisa, Martina, Pilar, Victoria and Virtudes were inscribed there.
During the ceremony, Santisteve defended the need to move forward with reparation and historical memory. The tribute, he explained at the time, sought “symbolic reparation” for the victims’ relatives and asserted the right to truth, memory, reparation and justice.
Fernando Rivarés, then councillor for Economy and Culture, also spoke, recalling the commitment to the freedom of the women who had been forgotten by history. Pilar Catalán, a visual artist and the project’s coordinator, was responsible for presenting the ceremony.
The inauguration also had a strong cultural component. Letters and poems dedicated to the Thirteen Roses were read, and the tribute concluded with a song performed by the rock group Vinos Chueca, with lyrics by Fernando Bastos.
That day, the thirteen names found a dedicated place to be remembered in one of Zaragoza’s main parks. This is how Aragón Digital reported it 10 years ago, when the city inaugurated a monument dedicated to the memory of the Thirteen Roses.
