The Civil Guard has recovered the historic Aneto cross, which had been missing since April after being torn from the summit of the Pyrenees mountain. The three-meter-tall structure, weighing nearly 100 kilos, was found half-buried in the snow during a rescue operation and has been taken to Benasque while the investigation continues.
According to the Civil Guard itself on its Instagram account, the discovery occurred at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, when members of the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (GREIM) from Benasque and the Huesca Air Unit were heading to carry out a rescue in the area.
While flying over the north face of the Aneto, the officers spotted an object partially covered by snow at the base of a wall about 200 meters below the summit that could have been a cross. Once the operation was completed, they returned to the site and confirmed it was the missing Aneto Cross, now visible after the snowmelt.
For safety reasons, the structure was extracted using a crane cycle and transported by helicopter to the Benasque helipad. It was later placed in Civil Guard facilities. Once the proceedings are concluded, it will be handed over to the Benasque Town Council, which will decide whether to reinstall it at its original location.
The cross was destroyed with an angle grinder
The recovery of the cross comes two months after it was the target of an act of vandalism. In early April, the structure had been cut with an angle grinder and torn from its base in a hate attack.
The cross had crowned the Aneto since 1951, when it was installed by a group of Catalan mountaineers. Over the decades, it became one of the most recognizable symbols of the summit and was accompanied by an image of the Virgin of the Pillar and a carving of Saint Martial, patron saint of the Benasque Valley.
The investigation opened after the attack initially failed to locate the structure, which remained hidden for weeks in a difficult-to-access area of the mountain and covered by snow accumulated during the winter.
A symbol that had suffered other attacks
It was not the first time the cross had been damaged. In 1999 it was toppled by a storm and had to be reinstalled. Years later, in 2018, it appeared painted yellow by supporters of the Catalan independence process.
The April disappearance reopened the debate on the protection of religious symbols located in natural spaces of special historical and cultural value.
The reparative gesture of a young Frenchman
The recovery of the original cross comes just weeks after the initiative led by young Frenchman Maël Le Lagadec.
In May of this year, the young man climbed to the summit of the Aneto carrying a 35-kilo walnut wood cross to place it in the spot left empty after the attack. The journey involved covering 28 kilometers and overcoming an elevation gain of 1,900 meters over nearly fourteen hours.
His gesture aimed to symbolically repair the destruction of one of the best-known emblems of the Pyrenean mountain.