Bomb Shelter

March 23, 2012

Today I went on a CEA trip to the bomb shelter 307. The only people to show up to the trip were my friend and I so it was like we got a private tour. I thought that this was one of the most interesting trips I went on with CEA. In the beginning of the trip we learned about what Barcelona was like before the civil war and the preparations that the community took when these attacks began. Franco's army began to bombard Barcelona with air raids. In order to avoid death during the air raids the community built bomb shelters. When an air raid was coming a siren would sound and everyone would run to the shelter closest to their area. The people would have to sign up for which shelter they were going to go to in order to avoid over crowding. The way that the shelters were built were very interesting and smart. When walking into the shelter the first turn you make the wall is curved so that if a bomb or smoke were to enter the shelter the wall would block it from the rest of the shelter. Also, there were bathrooms next to the entrance of the shelter. There were little corridors attached to the shelter. The plans were shelter 307 were 400 meters of vaulted tunnels, 1.6 meters wide by 2 meters high. The capacity according to plans was 2,000 people. By the end of the war the tunnel was 200 meters 2.10 meters high and between 1.5 and 2 meters wide with three entrances. In order to have a spot in the tunnel people would need to spend some time building. The shelter was made out of bricks. I also thought it was interesting that a company had discovered the shelter and used it for storage before it was considered a historical site. As well, our tour guide told us there was a family that lived in the tunnel for a while and they built a chimney system for their fire place which I thought was very smart. On the tour we also got to see the sick bay which was built differently so that there was constantly fresh air allowed in. As well, there was a room that was built as a play room for children, but people didn't feel safe letting their kids play in there which was good because the ceiling ended up caving in during one of the air raids. They ended up using this area for storage instead. All around the shelter there were water fountains and little cubbys with blankets. Overall, i thought that this was a very interesting and educational trip. The picture below is a picture of the plan of the shelter.