15 meters below the Department of the Interior, there are 100 meters of labyrinth-shaped galleries. It is an old anti-aircraft shelter built by the workers of Aguas de Barcelona when this company occupied the so-called Santa Isabel mansion, at the confluence of Paseo de Sant Joan with Calle Diputació. The refuge is in a perfect state of conservation and on the walls hang some murals about its history, installed in 2009.
In total, there are six passageways approximately 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters high. At the beginning of the civil war and the indiscriminate bombing of Franco’s aviation over Barcelona, ??Aguas de Barcelona decided to build a shelter for the protection of its workers, but also for the citizens who were in the vicinity. The same employees were in charge of the works.
The company had its headquarters in the mansion since 1920, when it acquired the property, which had belonged to the textile businessman Frederic Ricart Gibert, Marquis of Santa Isabel. The building, designed by Josep Fontsere, combined the functions of family residence and headquarters of the Can Ricart company, whose factory was located in Poblenou. Aguas de Barcelona maintained its headquarters until 2005, when the mansion was acquired by the Generalitat to install the Department of the Interior.
Two latrines and a chamber that was to be used as an infirmary or pantry are still preserved from the old shelter. Also visible are the remains of one of the two emergency exits, which led to Calle Diputació and Paseo Sant Joan. After the war, it was used as a company warehouse and archive. In 2009, the Directorate General for Historical Memory enabled it to be visited and equipped it with museum elements that can still be seen.
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