Girona City Council is calling on people who attended the city’s Diada Nacional de Catalunya on 11 September 1976, or who hold material from the day, to help the Municipal Archive preserve its record of the event.

Residents with photographs, recordings, posters or other documents can contact the archive by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 972 22 15 45. The council will mark the 50th anniversary around the next 11 September.

Archive appeal for material from the 1976 gathering

The Ajuntament de Girona, the city council, said the appeal aims to recover personal testimony and documents that can reconstruct and share the collective memory of the day.

  • Who can contribute: people who attended the 1976 Diada, or anyone who has relevant material.
  • What is sought: photographs, recordings, posters and other graphic or documentary records.
  • How to respond: email [email protected] or call 972 22 15 45.
“With this commemoration, we want to recognise the value of those people who helped recover public space as a place for democratic expression, collective demands and Catalan identity in freedom, and to preserve the memory of a key episode in the city’s recent history,” said Girona mayor Lluc Salellas i Vilar.

An authorised event at La Devesa

The 1976 event took place at the GEiEG athletics track in La Devesa, organised by the Assemblea Democràtica de Girona. It was held after years in which the Diada had been prohibited during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

Historical accounts record appearances by Salvador Sunyer and Narcís Jordi Aragó, alongside performances by Maria Dolors Lafitte, the Figueres group Indika and the Cobla Ciutat de Girona. The gathering was authorised by the government authorities, although it was held away from Girona city centre.

That year, the Diada planned for Barcelona was moved to Sant Boi de Llobregat, while Girona’s authorised gathering was staged at the former Camp de Mart area of La Devesa.

People holding material from the Girona event can submit it to the Municipal Archive through [email protected] or 972 22 15 45.

Primary sources: eb.girona.cat. Reported by Source Text Link, pedresdegirona.com, Jordi Grau, written by Else Beekman, Jordi Nadal, Enric Canals, elperiodico.com, EFE, reusdigital.cat, lavanguardia.com, Carina Filella, apdnoticies.com.