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Café Español
Avinguda del Paral·lel, 64 The original Café Español was famous for its political get-togethers, attracting figures such as the anarchist leader Salvador Seguí, where he probably earned his nickname of El Noi del Sucre (Sugar Boy) from his habit of eating sugar cubes before drinking his coffee. 6
La Tranquilidad
Avinguda del Paral·lel, 69 La Tranquilidad, one of the most famous bars in the libertarian movement, was demolished in the 1940s. In the 1920s and 1930s it was a meeting point for anarchists, including Buena ventura Durruti and his comrades. It was also turned into a field hospital in the fighting on 19-20 July 1936. 7
The collectivisation of the entertainment industry
In the summer of 1936 the CNT’s entertainment industry branch collectivised all the cinemas and theatres in Barcelona, including those along El Paral·lel. 9
Refugi 307
C. Nou de la Rambla, 175 Refugi 307 is one of the best preserved air raid shelters in Barcelona. It consists of 400 metres of vaulted tunnelling, lit originally with oil lamps, with three entrances and a capacity for some 2,000 people. There was an infirmary, a tap with running water, separate toilets for men and women, and a children’s room. The shelter was discovered by historian Valerie Powles. Visits are organised through MUHBA. 10
Collectivisation by the woodworkers union
Santa Madrona Church and Rectory at c. Tapioles, 10 One of the most successful of the industrial collectivisations during the revolution was carried out by the CNT’s woodworkers union, which was based principally in El Poble-sec. The union took over the entire production chain, from felling trees in the Pyrenees to furniture shops in Barcelona. Some smaller, dangerous workshops were closed down and a number of larger ones were opened, including one in Santa Madrona Church. The Consell Econòmic de la Fusta Socialitzada (Economic Council of Socialised Wood) was set up in the church’s rectory. 11
The Esquerra Republicana Centre in Poble-sec
C. Tapioles, 27 Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia) was founded on 19 March 1931. Two years later it was established in El Poble-sec in c. Tapioles. In the summer of 1936, Montjuïc Castle was occupied by Esquerra Republicana’s militias. 12
Santa Madrona municipal clinic
C. Roser, 15 Municipal clinics played a key role during the Civil War, especially after 1937 when bombing and hunger began to wreak havoc on the city. This situation was made worse by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees. An inventory taken in 1937 showed that the c. Roser clinic had three infirmaries, a sterilisation chamber and a treatment room. 13
Montjuïc Castle is a dark presence in Barcelona’s collective memory as a site of repression and torture and used over the centuries to bombard the city on several occasions. During the Civil War the Castle was used by the Republicans as a political and military prison and 256 executions were carried out there. In early 1939 it became a key piece in the Franco regime’s machinery of repression and terror. Some executions took place there in the 1940s, including Lluís Companys, though the preferred killing ground was Camp de la Bota, where the Forum is today. 16
The Civil War and the Workers’ Movement in Poble-sec and Montjuïc
MNAC
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya has an excellent section on the Spanish Civil War including original posters, paintings and prints. One of the most emblematic works is Head of Montserrat Screaming (1942), a sculpture depicting the head of a Catalan peasant woman, her face full of pain, anger, anguish and terror. 17
Miró Foundation
The Miró Foundation has several Civil War-related works by Miró, including Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement. Painted in 1935, it expresses the artist’s anguish at the storm gathering over Spain. In the same room is an original print of Miro’s famous Aidez L’Espagne, which he produced for sale at the Spanish Republic’s Pavilion at the Paris International Exposi tion in 1937. Another interesting work is Alexander Calder’s Mercury Fountain, originally commis sioned for the Pavilion. Also part of the permanent collection is Miro’s 1973 triptych The Hope of a Condemned Man, which alluded to the execution of Salvador Puig Antich. 18
Plaque remembering THE SHANTY TOWN
Outside the entrance to the new Botanical Garden A huge shanty town spread across Montjuïc hill during much of the 20th century. Most of the land was privately owned and the shacks were usually rented by their occupants from corrupt slumlords. The shacks continued to cover a sizeable portion of the hill until the process of demolishing them was completed in the 1970s. 19
Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium
On the morning of 19 July 1936 Lluís Companys was scheduled to give a speech opening the Olimpíada Popular, Catalonia’s internationalist and anti-fascist response to the official Olympics being held in Hitler’s Berlin. The Olimpíada Popular had to be cancelled because the Civil War broke out. 20
Montjuïc cemetery
Montjuïc cemetery is home to a number of graves related to the workers’ movement, Republi canism, the Civil War and Francoism, including those of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, Francesc Layret, Francesc Macià, Buenaventura Durruti and Salvador Puig Antich. Visitors can pick up a map from the cemetery’s offices. See also the information about the Fossar de la Pedrera below. 21
Fossar de la Pedrera
The Fossar de la Pedrera is the mass grave of the victims of the Franco regime in Barcelona. More than 1,700 were buried here after being shot between 1939 and 1951, most of them at Camp de la Bota. In addition to the columns bearing the names of the victims and the grave of Lluís Companys, there are a number of memorials including to Austrian and Jewish International Brigade members, the masons, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC), the CNT and the Spanish Maquis. Entry is via Montjuïc cemetery.
Poble-sec - Francesc Boix Library
C. Blai, 34 The building initially functioned as a religious school but was burnt out during the Tragic Week. At the start of the Civil War, it became a recruitment centre for the first militias, and for the rest of the war the CNT-FAI occupied the building. Starting in 1939 and during the dictatorship, the building was the headquarters of the Falange in Poble-sec.
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LEs Tres Xemeneies (La Canadenca)
The Canadenca power plant was the origin of one of the most remarkable working-class actions in European history which saw a general strike across Barcelona lasting 44 days. Although the CNT initially appeared to have won the strike, their victory proved to be short lived. 2
Battle against the 1936 military coup
Avinguda del Paral·lel and Ronda de Sant Pau junction The junction of Avinguda del Paral·lel and Ronda de Sant Pau saw one of the key battles of 19 July 1936 when workers, many of whom were members of the CNT woodworkers’ union from El Poble-sec and El Raval, managed to stop a large military column. Bullet marks probably from the July fighting can be clearly seen on the Paral·lel wall of La Caixa bank on the corner of c. d’en Fontrodona.
Plaque to Francesc Boix
C. Margarit, 17 There is a plaque at c. Margarit, 17, which says: “Francesc Boix i Campo (Barcelona, 1920 – Paris, 1951) was born in this building. A photographer, fighter against fascism, prisoner in Mauthausen, and the only Spaniard called to give evidence at Nuremberg against the military leaders of the 3rd Reich.” Working as a prisoner in the SS photo lab at Mauthausen, Boix secretly made copies of the photos taken by the SS. These photos today represent by far the largest photographic record of the Holocaust and Nazi barbarity. 14
Montjuïc Castle
El Molino
Controlled in the 1920s by the notorious Unió de Sindicats Lliures, a gangster-led organisationcum-trade-union set up by employees to compete with and violently confront the CNT. In 1939, the Moulin Rouge was renamed El Molino. Neither French nor the word rouge (red) would be tolerated any longer by the regime. 8
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Photographs: Arxiu Pérez de Rozas. Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona Texts: Nick Lloyd
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March 1937 bombing
C. Creu del Molers and c. Annibal Poble-sec was heavily bombed during the Civil War. The first air raid on Barcelona hit La Barceloneta and El Poble-sec on 16 March 1937. The first bombs fell on c. Creu dels Molers, 68 and 72, and c. Anníbal, 17. Six people were killed and thirty-nine injured. 4
March 1938 bombing
Ronda de Sant Pau, 2 One of the most tragic bombing raids occurred on 17 March 1938 when a bomb hit a bus standing at the corner of El Paral·lel and Ronda de Sant Pau. The damage from the shrapnel can still be seen at Ronda de Sant Pau, 2.
March 1938 bombing
Battle against the 1936 military coup
4 The collectivisation of the entertainment industry
Café Español Les Tres Xemeneies (La Canadenca)
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2 El Molino
8 Collectivisation by the woodworkers union
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La Tranquilidad
10 Plaque to Francesc Boix
Santa Madrona municipal clinic
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Poble-sec - Francesc Boix Library
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Miró Foundation Montjuïc Castle
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The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
The Esquerra Republicana Centre in Poble-sec
Plaque remembering the shanty town Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium
March 1937 bombing
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9 Refugi 307 Fossar de la Pedrera Montjuïc cemetery
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The Civil War and the Workers’ Movement in Poble-sec and Montjuïc
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