The Minister of Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, pledged yesterday to promote the Masonic Temple of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, achieving the recovery of the funds from the Añaza lodge, currently located in the Archive of Salamanca, for their return to the capital.
Masonic elements, including a banner from 1900, along with books, aprons, swords, and medals that were seized by Franco’s orders, will now become part of the renovated building, with construction nearing completion.
During a meeting yesterday with the Mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, and Jesús Soriano, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for Spain, Torres stated that “the Masonic Temple of Santa Cruz will be equipped with bibliographic and various other funds to transform it into a museum. The aim is for the public to visit and learn the true history of Freemasonry, which was fundamental for the intellectual development of our country and was persecuted during the years of Franco’s dictatorship in an utterly shameful manner.”
For this reason, the minister added that a “roadmap” was established during the meeting, along with a draft agreement for the development of the future museum centre. “We will also forward this to the senior officials of the Archive of Salamanca, where we know there is important material related to Freemasonry,” he said.
Torres also announced that the Ministry has requested a list of the funds that were taken from the Masonic Temple of the Tenerife capital during the dictatorship and are now held in Salamanca. He clarified that he will hold a meeting with the head of the Archive of Salamanca to expedite the return of these funds to Tenerife.
“We want to promote a decentralisation decree to ensure that not only the offices and agencies but also the bibliographic funds belonging to the cultural heritage are where they belong, which is where they were originally,” Torres noted. He reminded that “Freemasonry was a fundamental movement for intellectual development and self-knowledge, and it was tragically persecuted during the years of Franco’s dictatorship. The idea is to restore its presence as it was in the 1930s, and we will continue discussions with the Archive of Salamanca with that intention.”
Meanwhile, Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez expressed the city’s intention to urge the State to transfer the funds of the Añaza Lodge, “to be allocated to the Masonic Temple, which we expect to inaugurate before the end of the year. These are a collection of items that were removed from this site, and we now seek to have them returned to their original location.”
Bermúdez detailed during the meeting with Torres that “we spoke about material objects and books that we have evidence are located in the Archive of Salamanca.” He added that the goal is “to have them exhibited in the future Museum of Freemasonry at the Temple, and for this, we have agreed that the best way to formalise this request is through an agreement between the Ministry, the official Freemasonry, and the City Council to facilitate this recovery.”
“The Añaza lodge,” the mayor further explained, “was responsible for constructing the Temple, emphasising the importance of recovering the existing archives of their work.” Bermúdez is optimistic that progress can be made quickly with the agreement, for which a draft already exists, and the various parties have committed to collaborate.
Similarly, Jesús Soriano, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree and the latest of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for Spain, noted that “the purpose was to align Santa Cruz’s ambitions to enrich the Masonic Temple and the Ministry’s willingness, which is aware of the existence of a banner from the Añaza Lodge, holding significant historical and artistic value, stored in a climate-controlled room in the Archive of Salamanca.”
The meeting was also attended by the city councillor for Works, Javier Rivero, the territorial delegate of SCG33, Florentino Guzmán, and the Cultural Manager, Carlota Cobo.
“The Franco Monument Must Be Reinterpreted If Declared BIC”
Minister Ángel Víctor Torres expects the Franco monument to be removed or, if specialists determine it should be declared a Cultural Asset of Interest (BIC), to be recontextualised “so that anyone who sees it understands its historical significance and what it represented.”
If this isn’t the case, it must comply with the law and “should be removed,” he added at the end of the meeting with Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez, stating that he agrees “on many issues” with the mayor, as democrats find common ground when it comes to eliminating anything that opposes democracy.
