Barcelona beach closed off to analyze unusual object found, works to last all day Thursday

*Updated July 21, 2022 at 7:45 pm.

Barcelona's Somorrostro beach was closed off on Wednesday evening after an unusual object police feared could be a Civil War explosive was found.

The item, as was revealed on Thursday evening by Spain's Guardia Civil after restricting access to the beach for hours, turned out to be a submerged pipe. 

Beachgoers were not allowed on Somorrostro, located between Barceloneta and the Olympic port, for most of Thursday while the Spanish navy carried out works to analyze the item.

Civil War artifacts

Finding objects from the Civil War, such as bombs, happens relatively often in Catalonia – in August 2019, an explosive device was found at Barcelona’s Sant Sebastià beach and was detonated one nautical mile offshore and at a depth of 45 meters.

The highly volatile artifact, which contained 70kg of TNT, was found by an off-duty Guardia Civil diver 25 meters off the shore and at a depth of 3 meters, which led to authorities evacuating beach-goers.

Barcelona is also home to over a thousand Civil War bomb shelters, some of which can be visited.

Have a listen to episode of our podcast, Filling the Sink, on the world that lies beneath the surface of the Catalan capital that we published in January 2022.