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 abandoned Blue Bonnets Raceway
Montréal, Quebec (Canada)

Blue Bonnets racetrack saga is not about to end anytime soon. One of the main topic of Montreal 2013 election was the huge eco-friendly residential project that politicians wanted to implant on the former racetrack site. Despite the fact that the...

Burned house in the state of New York
Countryside, New York (United States)

Abandoned for more modern constructions, burned or left behind to adrift once the occupants died, abandoned houses populate the countryside. Hidden under vegetation who tries to conquer its old territory, sometimes the time prevents explorers...

The train cemetery in Uyuni, Bolivia
Uyuni, (Bolivia)

It is at Uyuni, a small town of just over 10,000 inhabitants located more than 3,670 meters above sea level that can be found one of the most famous train cemetery. Well, we must also say that the world's largest salty desert is located in Uyuni...

The old convent of the Sisters of Redemption

It is at high speed that the old convent of the Sisters of the Redemption undergoes the thunders of vandals who are looking for strong sensations.

Classified as a heritage building, the religious community deserted it in the mid-1990s for...