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Festival of el Motín

Aranjuez, Las Vegas, Madrid

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Festival of el Motín

Activity · Aranjuez, Las Vegas, Madrid

The Fiestas del Motín are held in the first days of September in Aranjuez and commemorate the events of the Motín de Aranjuez of 1808, which brought about the fall of Godoy and the abdication of Charles IV in favour of Ferdinand VII. They were first performed on 5 September 1982 in the parade ground of the Palacio Real. Among its highlights is the night-time assault on Godoy's palace, when residents, with drums and torches, re-enact his arrest and burn his belongings in a fireworks display, and the appointment of the Amotinado Mayor, an honorary title that was first held, in 1984, by Camilo José Cela. The two-hour performance brings together around a hundred and fifty residents in front of the Palacio Real. Since 2014 the festival has been declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional (a national-level tourism-interest designation in Spain).

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