Cartagena Air Raid Shelter Museum

On the same day I visited the Cartagena Military Museum, I also stopped off at the Air Raid Museum on Calle Gisbert. This is located next to the large panoramic lift that takes in a view of Cartagena.

Cartagena was a Republican stronghold that was seen as a strategic military target by the Nationalist command due to it being the base of the Republican Navy. It, therefore, suffered repeated bombing raids throughout the civil war. The worst incident taking place on 25th of November 1936 when the Nationalist air force bombed Cartagena over a four hour period.

The museum is actually inside the air raid shelter which would have housed up to 5,500 people. It has a gift shop where you can buy the usual tourist things such as pencils and novelty flashlights. It also sells books in Spanish and English about the civil war.


It is a well laid out museum giving the visitor a background to the causes of the civil war and the functions that the air raid shelter performed. What I found good about this museum was the use of both Republican and Nationalist records which highlighted the vast differences in accounts by both sides. It also had many photographs of Cartagena prior to the civil war which I found very interesting. They also had Republican posters on display and for a small fee you could purchase prints in the gift shop.



Perhaps most moving is the collection of pictures by children, of the bombing raids on Cartagena.

All in all this is a fascinating museum and well worth 20 minutes of your time.

Here is a link to Murcia Today with a write up of the museum and the opening times.

https://murciatoday.com/cartagena-spain-civil-war-air-raid-shelter-and-museum_3021-a.html





Thanks for reading,


Rob


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