28/01/2025
Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG)
To mark the 600th anniversary of the documented presence of the Roma on the Iberian Peninsula, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) held a commemorative event at its headquarters in Madrid, attended by the President of the Council of State, Carmen Calvo, and the Ombudsman of Spain, Ángel Gabilondo, among other public authorities, members of social organisations and participants in FSG programmes. This was the first of a series of events that will be held in different locations throughout Spain.
With this event, FSG celebrates the fact that the Spanish Roma and their culture form an essential part of the social and cultural mosaic of the country. Their contributions and achievements are very much present in the arts, gastronomy, trades, language and philosophy of life, among others. FSG recalls that the history of the Spanish Roma is marked by centuries of persecution and mistrust, but also by coexistence and intermingling. For this reason, it approaches this anniversary from a perspective of celebration, of the need to share it, from an intercultural perspective and one of valuing diversity.
Video of the event (in Spanish)
600 years of shared history
A commemorative banner will remain on the façade of the FSG headquarters throughout 2025. A year that was declared ‘Year of the Roma in Spain’ by the Spanish government on 7 January. The event began with a short play performed by young Roma participants in FSG programmes. The script and direction by Francisco Suárez, stage director, playwright, writer and Roma intellectual, presented the historical moment of 12 January 1425. The Count of Egypt Minor and the caravan carrying his ‘people and families’ received permission from King Alfonso V of Aragon to cross his lands on a pilgrimage. This is recorded in the first document that attests to the presence of Roma in the Iberian Peninsula (even before the Spanish state as such existed).
Next, Sara Giménez, director general of the FSG, and Carmen Calvo, president of the Council of State, offered a few words of welcome. Giménez emphasised that ‘we are facing a great opportunity. A key date that can mark a milestone in the recognition of a diversity with such a long history in our country, that brings us closer to knowing the past as a form of memory and reconciliation, that enriches us as a society: a more just, cohesive and, at the same time, diverse society’. Calvo, for her part, pointed out the opportunity of the year ’to show the commitment to end inequality for the Roma. In a diverse and egalitarian world, they cannot be an annex to life in Spain’.
Next, the singer Saray Muñoz, accompanied on guitar by Iván Losada, performed the Roma anthem Gelem Gelem as a solemn close to the day's events.
The exhibition ‘600 years of shared history’ is also an essential part of this celebration. It reflects some of the historical moments of the Roma in Spain, such as their arrival in different parts of the peninsula at the beginning of the 15th century, or the Great Round-up of 1749, as well as their symbols, values and cultural contributions. It offers an image far removed from stereotypes and contributes to constructing, also through images, a fairer view of the Roma. It is made up of illustrations by Daniel Belchí, some of them from the Romani Lesson campaign (FSG, 2018) and others designed specifically for this sixth centenary.
Poster commemorating the 600th anniversay of the arrival of the Roma to the Iberian Peninsula
Photo gallery
