Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Pasealekua air-raid shelter, Gernika
Gernika-Lumo · Air-raid shelter
The story
In 1936 Gernika dug four tunnel shelters into the hillside by the market area to protect townspeople from air raids. They were in use on 26 April 1937, when crowds from the Monday market and refugees sheltered here as the bombs fell. Two of the four shelters survive. One unfinished tunnel holds a scale model of the shelter as built; the other has a sound-and-light presentation recreating the experience of the people inside during the raid. It is a short, powerful complement to the Peace Museum.
What you can see today
Two restored tunnel shelters about 10 m into the hillside, with a model and an immersive audiovisual.
Plan your visit
Entrance on Juan Calzada Kalea, near the Pasealeku park. Free entry; check times with the Gernika tourist office (turismo.gernika-lumo.eus).
- Open
- 11:00–21:00 (Gernika tourist office)
- Price
- Free
Checked September 2026 from official sources: gernikainfo.eus, gernikainfo.eus. Things change, so check before you travel.
Sources
- tracesofwar.com/sights/142966/
- tracesofwar.com/sights/142966/
- es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardeo_de_Guernica
Nearby sites
- Casa de Juntas & Tree of Gernika · under 1 km
- Gernika Peace Museum (Museo de la Paz) · under 1 km
- Astra factory air-raid shelter, Gernika · under 1 km
- Monte Sollube battlefield · 9 km
- Gaztelumendi breach – Larrabetzu Iron Belt bunker · 12 km
- Iron Belt trail, Zamudio (Berreaga–Gaztelumendi ridge) · 16 km
All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →
The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The battlefields, trenches, ruined villages, shelters, museums and memorials of the Spanish Civil War across the whole of Spain, told fairly from both sides.
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