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

Shannon Park
Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

Built in 1949 on the shores of the Bedford Basin in Halifax, Shannon Park is a former site of the Department of National Defence (DND) that stretches on over 96.5 acres (38.8 hectares). While the site was gradually abandoned at the turn of 2000,...

The drift of the concrete church
South short of Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

We must go back to 2014 to find the last traces of the religious ceremony in the church. Since then, virtually nothing has changed between its walls. Despite minimal maintenance, the cobwebs began to appear here and there between furniture and...

The old chapel
Great Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

This domain’s history is rooted in the nineteenth century, back when industrialists in Canada are mostly English or Scottish men. At that time, French-Canadian people, who form the majority of the population, do not participate in the economic...

The gramophone's house
Montérégie, Quebec (Canada)

Don't even try to find this house, you won't find it. In fact, if I know that place, it's primarily because I know the owner. From the outside, nothing seems abandoned. Despite the venerable age of the house, no clue suggest that the place is no...