Air-raid shelter discovered during work on the station in La Sagrera
The archaeological work around the street of Baixada de la Sagrera, resulting from the construction of the structure for the high-speed rail connection between Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, has revealed an air-raid shelter that was not known about and was not included on the 1938 census of public air-raid shelters.
This was a private shelter serving the former goods station in La Sagrera. It had been completely hidden and only emerged when earth was moved as part of the current rail project and the remodelling of this space. The find comes as part of the dig being directed by the archaeologist Joel Blanco from the company ABANS.
The shelter connected the two buildings on each side of the entrance to the former goods terminal. One of these was demolished during the last decade while the other is still standing and is currently home to the ADIF offices from where the project for the intermodal station at La Sagrera is being directed.
The shelter has a unique construction compared to the other air-raid shelters in Barcelona, built with a bunker structure having been dug out in the open and constructed with reinforced concrete then covered with a two-metre thick roof slab to withstand the impact of 100 kg bombs. The structure is four metres below ground and has two entrances.
The shelter has two main corridors inside, 2.5 metres high and 1.2 metres wide, uniting the twin buildings at the goods station in the direction of north and south. Four large chambers have been identified along them, along with four latrines and a space that may have been used for storage or a medical point. In all, the structure would be around 90 metres long.
The shelter combines different techniques: skeleton sections of concrete covered with thick bricks, ceilings of concrete formwork and lime mortar coverings. The benches in one of the chambers also stand out, painted around 1954 and etched with the initials for the CNT and the FAI, corresponding to the Civil War period. Another notable feature is the original electrical installation, with cabling and ceramic lightbulb holders.
Built between 1918 and 1922, the former goods station at La Sagrera occupied 200,000 square metres and over 17 kilometres of tracks. It was one of the city’s main logistics points until it closed in 1990 and a strategic point during the Civil War, making it a target for the bombardments of 1937. The CNT, which had collectivised the rail sector, coordinated with workers to build the shelter now discovered. The infrastructure is currently at the study and documentation stage using a laser scanner.
