Barcelona has documented an intact Spanish Civil War air-raid shelter under the Abaceria Central Market in Gràcia, found during redevelopment work near Torrijos Street 2. Initial working hypotheses suggest it may be shelter number 230 of the Passive Defence Board.
Archaeologists have recorded a 68-metre section of the shelter. It is about 1.10 metres wide and almost 2 metres high. The structure appears unfinished, with most walls still showing bare earth and only some sections finished. Local Passive Defence Board records from December 1937 already listed it as a public-funded work in progress.
The shelter was planned to hold 240 people and extend to nearly 199 metres, which matches the section now found. Its interior and lighting systems remain largely intact. Iron hooks for oil or carbide lamps are still visible, and an original ventilation shaft survives near the entrance.
The walls also carry inscriptions, including technical marks, construction measurements and a personal name. Municipal reports from 1939 and 1940 said the shelter originally had three access points, between the former Roque Barcia square, now Raspall square, and Puigmartí, Torrijos and Voltaire, now Siracusa, streets. Archaeologists also said this shelter is separate from another one found years ago under the same market, catalogued as shelters 1195 or 0008.
Barcelona city council says public safety is the immediate priority because the structure is unfinished and parts of the roof and walls have collapsed clay. Once archaeological recording is complete, the shelter will be closed, protected and sealed under the new pavement, while remaining available for authorised inspections or study. For more Barcelona updates, see our news coverage.
Most of Barcelona's 1,322 located air-raid shelters were built between 1937 and 1938, with 111 built in 1937 and 1,177 in 1938. Only ten were built in 1936 and one in 1939. Of the 48 shelters with known capacities, more than half were designed for up to 200 people. Larger shelters also existed, including three recorded for between 1,000 and 2,000 people, while the Francesc Magriñà shelter in Barceloneta, intended for soldiers, could hold 6,000 people.
Refuges were concentrated between Plaça de les Glòries and the Besòs river, especially in Clot and Sant Andreu, areas that received many refugees from across Spain. Another high-density area was between Barcelona's Moll, Paral·lel, Poble-sec and Sants. Gràcia was also well supplied, with a shelter under every square. Another shelter was found in Sants this March.
