The Forest of Remembrance, formerly known as the Forest of the Departed, was renamed in a symbolic gesture following the 2004 Madrid train bombings. The memorial garden, located in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro, commemorates the 191 civilian victims and one special forces agent who lost their lives in the attack. The garden was inaugurated on 11 March 2005, with King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia presiding over the ceremony alongside Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain (then the Prince and Princess of Asturias). Numerous heads of state and world leaders attended the ceremony, with no speeches delivered. The park, designed by El Invernadero, Belen Arroyo, and Ines Urquijo, houses 192 olive trees and cypresses, symbolizing the lives lost. The location, a hillock near the Atocha railway station, serves as a poignant reminder of the atrocities that took place.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
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