Barcelona

History is filled with disagreements and rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, as cities and as visions, at times different, of political and social life. The political and cultural tensions have been shown as a paradigm of issues of incomprehension, rejection or indifference between Castilian and Catalan culture. What this book reminds us, however, is how the tragic experience of the Spanish Civil War led to Catalonia's spontaneous and conscious solidarity with a Madrid besieged by rebel troops. The common ideals, the values of defence of liberty and the Republic provoked a general response and Catalonia's commitment to Madrid and Spain. This publication is a new edition, in digital format, of the catalogue Defensar Madrid és defensar Catalunya: Solidaritat en temps de guerra (1936-1939), from the exhibition of the same title held at the Blanquerna Cultural Centre in Madrid from 5 May to 31 July 2009, and organised by the Centre for International Historical Studies at the University of Barcelona, Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat de Catalunya. The exhibition was curated by Antoni Segura i Mas and Andreu Mayayo i Artal.