“Blay sculpture represents Girona’s citizen, Catalan people, standing against all invasions. Against the one we have now as well.
[…] the incarnation of his firm will of freedom and victory”
Carles Rahola. “Against the invader”. Napoleonic studies. Girona: Imprenta de la Casa d’Asistencia, 1938, p. 116-117. Ajuntament de Girona. AMGi. Biblioteca
Against the invader is one of the best-known works of the sculptor from Olot Miquel Blay. The sculpture symbolizes heroism and was inspired by the resistance of Girona in the city’s defense during the French War of 1808.
Carles Rahola, Girona’s writer and politician, published an article with the same title, Against the invader, in 1938, where he praised this sculpture as a symbol of struggle and resistance, then against Spanish fascism. For this article, he was judged and sentenced to death. After an anguished wait in prison, he was shot on March 15, 1939 in the cemetery of Girona.
Girona’s Art Museum and its workers join the protest action of many Catalan museums #velsperlallibertat, (veilsforfreedom) against condemnatory sentences of the Catalan social and political leaders dictated by the Spanish Supreme Court. In a democratic framework, dialogue should be the only way of solving political conflicts
