In 1992, due to some building work being carried out at the time, the air-raid shelter was discovered underneath Pl. Diamant, in Gràcia. Built twelve metres below the surface by local residents during the Spanish Civil War, the shelter protected over 200 people during the numerous attacks on the industrial area of Gràcia at the time, full of factories which were the main target of the attacking planes.
The shelter was one of over 90 shelters in the neighbourhood and is one of the biggest of the 1,300 built in Barcelona, one of the first cities to be systematically bombed from the air during an armed conflict. Now, as a way of recovering historical memory, the Gràcia History Workshop offers guided tours every Sunday at 11 am to explore the shelter. It’s well worth signing up to discover the series of tunnels which form the shelter and which saved so many lives.
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