Cartagena's Civil War Shelter Museum

Up to 5500 people once sheltered in this rapidly constructed tunnel complex.

During the Spanish Civil War, which took place between 1936 and 1939, the port of Cartagena, was very important as the site of the Republican naval forces.  It was therefore one of the hardest hit cities during the conflict. On November 25, 1936, the population endured a four hour air raid, which caused raging fires throughout the city and destroyed many historic buildings.

The people of Cartagena responded to the threat of air raids with the creation of numerous underground shelters dug out by local miners around the city including a massive excavation under Concepcion Hill, a major feature of the city with a castle on the summit. This shelter, on Calle Gisbert, part of which now forms the Civil War Air Raid Shelter Museum, was the largest. Galleries in the museum recreate the everyday life they made an effort to continue within the shelters.

In the excavated galleries which make up the  museum the visitor can see and hear video testimonies from  eyewitnesses, who were children at the time of the war and videos of some of the raids and damage to the historic city. The aerial bombardment of the civilian population, to which the videos refer, were part of General Franco’s strategy to terrorise and demoralise the people in this Republican area.  Within the museum is also a fascinating collection of posters aimed at encouraging the population to resist and art work produced by local children.

Another interesting feature is a selection of news reports on the raids from both Republican and Nationalist sides of the conflict. The differences in the reports about the same event are very telling. This project is one of the growing number in the country which commemorates a historical event that the Spanish state, until recently, seem to have been reluctant to commemorate.

The project in Calle Gisbert actually has two parts. The most obvious one is the panoramic elevator tower that links the street to the park and castle on the top of Concepcion Hill. The tower is a simple steel cylinder with the elevator shaft in the middle and a spiral staircase winding around it.

The first few turns round the spiral staircase take you up about 10 feet to the Air Raid Shelter Museum itself which is entered via a new modernist. building which has been added along the edge of the hill to house the museum’s offices, rest rooms and gift shop. Only a small part of the extensive excavations have been made available to the public but the information provided, in both Spanish and English is excellent.