Saturday 1st to Sunday 30th June 2024
Eccles Library
The extraordinary testimony of civil resistance, forcibly silenced for decades during Franco’s dictatorship, still lives under the streets of Barcelona.
A photographic exhibition, curated by Ana Sánchez and Xavier Domènech, has revealed the network of underground air-raid shelters, intensively bombed between 1937 and 1939 by the Italian and the German air forces, allied with Franco’s command, from an artistic perspective. Forty of these 1322 shelters from the Spanish Civil War are being seen for the first time, showing a civic, historical, and architectural heritage that became a centre of debate in all of Europe, just before the Second World War.
This incredible exhibition will be on display during the Festival of Libraries 2024 at Eccles Library, marking Greater Manchester’s history of air raid shelters and how air-raid shelters have become reflections of cities.
The successful precedent of Barcelona was ruled out by Churchill’s government for social and political reasons, not for technical reasons: the collective underground shelters, where all social classes come together, challenged some of the dominant values of the British upper class. This is probably the greatest indicator that the model of shelters is not only a building technique, but also a mirror of societies. This is why this exhibition can explain not only a connection between Catalonia and Great Britain but, can also offer a more global comparative reflection on the values of societies at war.
This is a drop-in exhibition and you do not require a ticket to visit. Please check the Eccles Library opening times carefully before your visit to ensure entry.
Check out the other events related to the Spanish Civil War and its connections to the UK, Salford and the North-West, all taking place at Eccles Library during June below.
Join us for an evening with Richard Baxell and Nicholas Barnett, lecturer in History and Politics at the University of Salford, discussing those who volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic nearly 90 years ago and Richard's many books on the subject.
Free, booking required.
Join Ana Sanchez and Xavier Domenech, the photographer and historian behind the unique exhibition at Eccles Library, ‘Air Raid Shelters: from the Spanish Civil War to the Blitz’.
Free, booking required.
Join us for a discussion of George Orwell’s – to some controversial – account of his experiences fighting for the Spanish Republic during the Civil War.
Free, no booking required.
Dolores Long and Chris Carson will be discussing the local and regional impact of the Spanish Civil War and the volunteers inspired to fight for the Spanish Republic against what they saw as fascism.
Free, booking required.
Sign up to the Salford Community Leisure mailing list and be the first to find out about our latest news, offers and forthcoming events across our services.
