ABSTRACT
The year 1942 marked the 1100th anniversary of the death of the Asturian king Alfonso II the Chaste. This circumstance provided an unique occasion for commemoration, which was seized by Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, to launch a carefully planned celebration. The Victory Cross turned Francisco Franco’s march into his apotheosis as the divinely chosen leader and savior of Spain, and the cross into the symbol of Franco’s victory in the Civil War. The Victory Cross was not the only memory object in these celebrations that could evoke such mythologized memory of the Civil War. The memories materialized in the Victory Cross ultimately metamorphosed Franco into a leader worthy of remembrance and commemoration, while the solemnity of his march turned that public performance into an anticipated commemoration of itself, already projecting its memory into the future.
