DÉNIA AIR-RAID SHELTER TUNNEL, 1937

DÉNIA AIR-RAID SHELTER TUNNEL, 1937

The tunnel was built as a shelter during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Dénia was situated deep in the Republican zone,and slowly filled with refugees: women, children and elderly people, mostly from Madrid, fleeing from thewar front and repeated bombing.
Bombardments began in Dénia inthe summer of 1937,when the cruiser «Canarias» shelled the town. Shortly after, in October,Fascist Italian and Nazi German aircraftsupporting the insurgent forces against the Spanish Republican government from bases on the island of Majorca dropped the first bombs.
The Local Committee for Passive Defence in Dénia commissioned the shelter project to protect the population, and work began in December 1937. Blasting of the main tunnel started simultaneously at both ends and involved the extraction of more than 1,000 m³ of rock. The200-metre-longtunnel was finishedin July 1938 and for the rest of the war offered protection to the population who would run toshelter inside when the air-raid siren in the castle sounded. Today the tunnel isan important pedestrianway into town.
We should remember that during the Civil WarDénia suffered a total of 37 bombardments that killed 32 people and injured more than a hundred.

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