300px, Entrance to the shelters. 300px, View of the interior of the galleries. The Spanish city of

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

suffered up to 52 bombings from air and sea, with a total of 754 bombs dropped during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. This led to the decision to create a system of underground shelters for the protection of approximately 40,000 civilians. These shelters measure more than 4.5 km long, and they are equipped with a surgery room and a food storage room. They were designed by the local architect

Guillermo Langle Rubio Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amador (born 1974), American musician *Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanis ...

, being today the most important and better preserved shelters in all Europe.

History

Its history began on 22 January 1937, after signing a project known as "The Project of Shelters against bombings in the city of Almería. The cost of its construction was estimated to be 4.5 million pesetas, of which the Central Government subsidized for 2 million. During the construction of these shelters, the government of the city established a special tax of 1% on all purchases to allow this expenditure, along with the cooperation of political parties and unions, contributions from business and voluntary labor work of some citizens. Its construction took a total of 16 months. There is only one original plan, which is supposedly incomplete, that of the layout of the shelters. It is a document printed on

onionskin Onionskin or onion skin is a thin, lightweight, strong, often translucent paper, named for its resemblance to the thin skins of onions. It was usually used with carbon paper for typing duplicates in a typewriter, for permanent records where low ...

paper dating from 1937, which designs for engravings on the outside of the shelters taken after rehabilitation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeria air raid shelters Almería Air raid shelters