Maruxa and Coralia Fandiño Ricart

Maruxa Fandiño Ricart ([maˈɾuʃa]; 4 January 1898 – 13 May 1980) and Coralia Fandiño Ricart (25 August 1914 – 30 January 1983) were two Spanish sisters who became popular figures in the city of Santiago de Compostela during the years of the Francoist dictatorship.

Commonly known as the Two Marías (Galician: as dúas Marías), they were born into a large working-class family in Galicia that became affiliated with the growing anarcho-syndicalist movement of the 1920s and 1930s. After Spanish Nationalists took control of Galicia during the Spanish coup of July 1936, the Fandiño Ricart family fell under heavy social and institutional repression. A number of the brothers escaped capture and carried out clandestine actions against the dictatorship, which brought the sisters under suspicion. Their house was routinely raided by the Falangists and the secret police, who abused, tortured and allegedly raped the sisters.

After the arrest of their brothers and the death of their younger sister, along with their continued mistreatment by the Spanish authorities and society, Maruxa and Coralia fell into poverty and succumbed to mental disorder. From the 1950s to the late 1970s, they took a daily stroll through the old town of Santiago de Compostela, made up and dressed in eccentric costumes, while flirting with young university students. The sisters' eccentricities stood in direct contrast to the social repression of the dictatorship, making them among the most famous women in Galicia.

Maruxa and Coralia died during the Spanish transition to democracy, but became local icons in Santiago de Compostela due to their stories and character. They have been represented by a famous sculpture in Santiago's Alameda Park, the subject of a documentary about the mark they left on the city, and a source of analysis in Galician gender studies due to the violence committed against them.