Refugi Antiaeri de la Plaça del Diamant

The Refugi Antiaeri de la Plaça del Diamant is a preserved air raid shelter beneath Barcelona’s Gràcia neighbourhood. The shelter also carries the designation Refugi 232. Built during the Spanish Civil War, it formed part of Barcelona’s underground response to aerial and maritime bombing. Its underground tunnels served the civilian population during bombing. A network of underground galleries shows how wartime defence occupied space beneath the streets of Gràcia. Narrow underground passageways shape the shelter’s architecture. Local residents helped create and reinforce shelters, turning neighbourhood organisation into a hidden civic infrastructure beneath Barcelona. The site preserves evidence of that collective neighbourhood effort. The shelter illustrates passive defence, a wartime system designed to protect civilians without direct combat. Its galleries retain the shape of a refuge. Historical context connects the tunnels with Barcelona’s experience of systematic aerial bombing and the Spanish Civil War. Guided visits explain the shelter’s place in Gràcia’s history.