MARIANA PINEDA
Mariana de Pineda y Muñoz, generally known as Mariana Pineda, (1 September 1804–26 May 1831) was an Andalusian national heroine.
At a very young age, she married Manuel Peralta Valte, a liberal army officer, but was widowed in 1822 with two children. She became very involved in liberal causes. In 1828 she assisted the escape from prison of her cousin, Captain Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, a noted liberal who had been condemned to death for taking part in General Rafael Riego’s insurrection.
In a search of her house in 1831, a flag was discovered with the embroidered slogan ‘Equality, Freedom and Law’ and she was arrested and accused of conspiracy. After a failed escape attempt she was detained in the Santa María Egipciaca convent in Granada. During the trial, the Judge tried to convince her to betray her accomplices in exchange for leniency, but she refused and was publicly executed by the garrote on 26 May.
In 1925 the playwright Federico García Lorca based his play Mariana Pineda on her story, propelling the popular heroine into legend and myth. The play was written between 1923 and 1925 and was first performed in June 1927 at the Teatre Goya in Barcelona. That production was directed by García Lorca, with scenic design and costumes by Salvador Dalí, and was performed by the company of Margarida Xirgu. The play received its Madrid première that October, at the Teatro Fontalba.
A hall inside the Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg bears her name.
