La Guernica

A city(town) with history. Which you can barely see any trace of it. This is the sad thing about destruction, there's nothing left. It's a nice little town, which has revived itself after the bombardment. I guess it reminds me a little bit about Rotterdam. We went into the church, the key watcher showed us around and tried to explain to us a little bit about the reconstruction of the Church. It's the spirit of the locals that reserved the place. Things were remembered by the locals in a different way. I wonder whether the town would be this famous if not for Picasso. The fact that the painting is in Madrid also bothers me a little bit. It signifies the ownership of such things belongs only to the elites. The painting la Guernica has never been la Guernica, but is Picasso, is the elite lifestyle, is the group of people who had the luxury to think about pain of such destruction, is about representation. It has not been about the town itself. Probably therefore it is why the painting will always stay in Madrid. In Museo de Reina Sofia, on the way, being guarded; while people stand in front of it, amazed by its grandeur, fascinated by the masterpiece and forget about the city.

For some reason, it feels like the city has been used. Their tragedy has been exploited as a tourist attraction that didn't bring them that much good. The people who lived there have their lives, with or without Picasso.