Civil War raid shelter in Barcelona opens to visitors

Locals and visitors to Barcelona interested in the Spanish Civil War, 1936 to 1939, now have access to a fourth bomb shelter in the Catalan capital.

The Torre de la Sagrera air raid shelter, located in the Sant Andreu district, opened its doors to visitors with guided tours over the weekend. The new site is the fourth to be regularly accessible under the streets of Barcelona: the 307 raid shelter, the Plaça del Diamant raid shelter, and the Plaça de la Revolució raid shelter.

Access is scheduled for Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, with tours lasting about one hour and costing €3, with reservations available to make online.

Authorities were unaware of the shelter, built in 1937 during the war, until 2014, when renovation work began at the Berenguer de Palou building.

The building is commonly known as the Torre de la Sagrera.

The city council said in a written statement that the shelter was found "excellently preserved." Experts found several items, such as three toilets, two ventilation ducts, and a water fountain. Electrical cables and original light bulbs were also found inside the tunnels.

Throughout the 88-meter-long shelter, visitors will see paintings for children and handwritten messages on the walls, including times and prices for those who built the raid shelter.

In addition to the main entrance in the Torre de la Sagrera building, a second blocked access was found at the crossing of Carrer de Berenguer de Palou and Carrer de Clara Zetkin.

Officials were unaware of this shelter as it was not part of the Defense Raid Shelters Service. Although it was initially intended to house members of the Ateneu Cultural de la Sagrera school, the educational center was never built as members of the Communist trade union, CNT-FAI, occupied the site in November 1936.

Bomb shelter users were locals and workers of the neighboring collectivized factory, United Shoe Machinery.

Exhibition in London

The prestigious British university Imperial College London hosts an exhibition on Barcelona's air raid shelters called 'The role of engineering in times of war. Air-raid shelters in Barcelona'.

The exhibition runs from January 10 to February 28 and is based on photographs of air-raid shelters built in Barcelona during the Civil War. 

Coordinated by Anna Riera, professor of History of Science at Imperial College London, the exhibition is backed by the Barcelona City Council and the Cervantes Institute.