XX Century to XXI in Valencia
On April 14, 1931 the second Republic, declared in Valencia, triumphed getting 32 seats in the parliament and Agustín Trigo was nominated as a mayor. The building of the Capitol cinema was opened in this year and demolishment the Square of the Queen for its expansion began.
In 1933, the remains of novelist Blasco Ibáñez were returned to Valencia to be buried in the civil cemetery of the city.
On 18 July 1936 a military uprising against the Republic broke out and thus the Spanish Civil War began. On November 6 the Government of the Republic moved to Valencia for fear that it might fall Madrid; the churches of the Santos Juanes, San Martin, San Augustine y etc. are burnt and the city was filled of bomb shelters.
In October 1937 the Government abandoned Valencia to go to Barcelona. This same year died José Benlliure, great Valencian painter and father of the sculptor Mariano Benlliure.
On March 30, 1939 the national troops entered in Valencia and April 1 the peace is declared. Francisco Franco was proclaimed head of State and takes the name of ‘Commander’. The peace came accompanied by food lack, ration books and speculation.
In 1943 the construction of the new Archbishop’s Palace began. In 1945 was born the first floral offering to the Virgen de los Desamparados by part of the Fallas commissions.
On October 14, 1957, the Valencia suffered the worst flood in history of the city and in consequence the diversion of the bed of the River Turia is projected on the outside of the city.
On November 20, 1975 general Franco died and on December 27 of the same year Don Juan Carlos I was proclaimed a king of Spain. He confirmed the provisional government that would lead the nation towards the democracy.
On June 15, 1977 the first democratic elections are held. This democratic environment caused the creation and approval of the Spanish Constitution of December 6, 1978 that has come until our days. As soon as the bases of the new democracy were established the declarations of the Valencian ones begin asking ‘Llibertat, amnesty, Estatut d’Autonomía’ and on April 29, 1982 the Statute of Autonomy is approved for the Valencian Community.
The Palau de la Música and the part of Bofill in the garden of the Turia were inaugurated in 1987. This same year the construction of the Radio Television Valenciana building began.
Valencia looks ahead into the 21st century from the city of Arts and Sciences, converted into a modern city that has recently built its Palace of Congresses.