Espada Street shelter at Tetuán Square

Another stop that helps us to understand the role of air-raid shelters and the mark left by the Spanish Civil War is the shelter in Espada Street at Tetuán Square, in the heart of the city. 

With a rectangular floor plan reinforced by columns, its concrete and iron structure is strengthened inside by soft materials, to prevent the bombs’ shock wave from spreading. There are also benches running along the walls and around the pillars. 

This shelter still preserves the iconic ‘Shelter’ sign, so well-integrated into the street that it almost becomes invisible. A metaphor perhaps of the passage of the Civil War through our collective memory.