The Stands of Dignity and Escotilla 8 in Santiago

Following the military coup against Salvador Allende in September 1973, the Chilean Armed Forces transformed the former stadium of Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos into the country’s largest detention centre for political prisoners, where abuse was rife. Following the transition to democracy, the Estadio Nacional possessed a complicated status functioning simultaneously as a venue of national importance while also embodying the trauma of thousands of former prisoners. This case study explores how memory groups advocated to create a physical memorial within a space intimately linked to a traumatic past.