Belchite, a remnant of the Spanish Civil War
Belchite, a remnant of the Spanish Civil War

Belchite, a remnant of the Spanish Civil War

Belchite, a remnant of the Spanish Civil War

Visit of ruins

Belchite, Spain

We are in September 1937 in the small village of Belchite located about 50 kilometers from Zaragoza. The Spanish Civil War has been raging for a year already and thousands of Spaniards died. By the end of the conflict in April 1939, they will be more than 500,000 deads.

While the village is the site of many battles between nationalists and republicans, Belchite will be conquered and reconquered throughout the Spanish Civil War. On April 1, 1939 while the noise of the bombs stopped, the village is completely destroyed, a victim of the madness of soldiers.

The new dictator, Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde, or simply Franco decided to leave the ruins untouched and rebuild the village few meters away. His goal? Give his people a live monument of the civil war. The latter is also used symbolically this place as irrefutable proof that the Republicans was the cause of this horror.

Today, the site is open to the public and guided tours are possible. The area have also been the scene of shooting various films, such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, The Fisher King, etc.) and Pan's Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro .

Related content

The old abandoned gymnastics club
Montréal, Quebec (Canada)

Abandoned in June 2014, the old movie theater had only a few decorative elements including the ceiling and its front to recall the original purpose of the building. It must be said that once closed in 1982, the intern architecture has been...

Forte de Nossa Senhora da Graça : fortress Our Lady of Grace
Elvas, (Portugal)

Located in the parish of Alcazaba about one kilometer from the town of Elvas in Portugal, the fortress Our Lady of Grace, better known by the Portuguese as the Forte de Nossa Senhora da Graça or Forte Conde de Lippe, this is a imposing building...

The almost abandoned Beaver Creek Free Methodist church

Built in 1895, the Beaver Creek Free Methodist Church is almost abandoned. Even if the church is actually still in use a few weeks of the year, the place is abandoned for the rest of the year.

Desolate and alone, it stands in perfect...

The abandoned fisherman's house
Prince-Edouard-Island, Prince Edward Island (Canada)

It was supposed to be a quiet family trip. Destination: the province of Prince Edward Island and the Madeleine islands, a small archipelago consisting of a half-dozen of islands interconnected by bridges and roads. For readers outside of Canada,...