Spanish Civil War 1936–1939

Castell de Montjuïc

Barcelona · Repression & memory site

The story

The fortress above the port was a prison and execution ground for whichever side held Barcelona. In August 1936 the Republican authorities executed rebel generals Manuel Goded and Álvaro Fernández Burriel here after the failed rising of 19 July, and other prisoners followed. After the city fell in January 1939, the Franco regime used the castle as a prison. On 15 October 1940 Lluís Companys, President of the Generalitat, was shot in its moat after a summary court-martial. He had been arrested in France by the Gestapo and handed to Spain. The castle has been in city hands since 2007 and now tells this history.

What you can see today

The moat where Companys was shot (a memorial marks the spot), the bastions, and two Civil War-era guns.

Plan your visit

By cable car or bus 150; entry fee (free on some Sunday afternoons); allow time for the views and the exhibition on the castle's history.

Sources

• tracesofwar.com/sights/90615/Castell-de-Montju%C3%AFc.htm
• tracesofwar.com/sights/90615/Castell-de-Montju%C3%AFc.htm
• tracesofwar.com/sights/91858/Location-Execution-Llu%C3%ADs-Companys.htm
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossar_de_la_Pedrera

Nearby sites

• Refugi 307, Poble-sec (MUHBA) · under 1 km
• Fossar de la Pedrera, Montjuïc · 2 km
• Teatre Poliorama, La Rambla (Orwell's rooftop) · 2 km
• Plaça de Sant Felip Neri (bombing of 30 January 1938) · 2 km
• Barcelona Cathedral – the religious persecution of 1936 · 2 km
• Telefónica building & Plaça de Catalunya (May Days 1937) · 3 km

All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →