The Generalitat will commemorate the 50th anniversary of president Josep Tarradellas’ return from exile on 23 October 1977, when the restoration of the Generalitat re-established Catalan self-government after the dictatorship. The 2027 programme is intended to examine the political, social and historical conditions behind that restoration, and will include activities around Catalunya.

For residents, schools and local cultural organisations, the plan means events and material will circulate beyond Barcelona during the year. The programme is still being developed, but is due to begin in September and culminate on the anniversary date, 23 October 2027.

The Generalitat’s executive council approved the 2027 calendar of official commemorations on 28 July. According to the government’s description, the Tarradellas tribute will be an exercise in critical, shared remembrance, with local perspectives on the return from exile and the recovery of Catalonia’s institutions.

Institutions prepare events in Barcelona and Poblet

Xavier Menéndez, the Generalitat’s director general for Democratic Memory, said the Department of the Presidency is leading the commemoration with the Ajuntament de Cervelló, Barcelona Provincial Council, the Memorial Democràtic, Poblet Monastery and the Tarradellas Archive.

“We owe both of them the preservation of the legitimacy of the republican Generalitat during exile, and a self-government connected to the Second Republic.”Xavier Menéndez, referring to Josep Tarradellas and his predecessor Josep Irla

Poblet will also host an October public-information day on Irla, timed to the 150th anniversary of his birth. Menéndez made the comments at an event in Poblet marking 50 years since Tarradellas’ return.

Other 2027 commemorations

The official calendar also includes centenary commemorations for three figures associated with resistance to Franco’s dictatorship and Spain’s political transition:

  • Joan Reventós, a founder of the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya who served as president of the Parliament of Catalonia from 1995 to 1999.
  • Cipriano García, a trade unionist involved in founding Comisiones Obreras in Catalunya and later a deputy for the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya.
  • Francesc Casares, a labour lawyer who defended workers prosecuted by the Franco-era Public Order Court and later served as a PSC deputy in the 1980s.

Menéndez also referred to programmes planned for the 50th anniversary of the Marxa de la Llibertat, a 1976 mobilisation that was stopped by police in Montblanc before reaching Poblet. Events are planned for 12 September in Montblanc, l’Espluga de Francolí and Poblet Monastery.

The Tarradellas programme is scheduled to close on 23 October 2027, 50 years after he proclaimed “I am here” from the balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona.

Reported by El Punt Avui.