Although the total length of all of them exceeds four and a half kilometers, not all of them are interconnected, and today, only the longest is open to the public, located under the Paseo de Almería. They are built at an average depth of 9 meters below the surface,[19]​ with the lowest sections even below sea level, so there are some walls in which saltpeter leaks can be seen. There are galleries for shelter, two meters wide; and connecting galleries, which were narrower. The stairs are around 1.3 meters wide and all are L-shaped. All the galleries and rooms have a barrel vault,[7] with all the walls covered by a 60-centimeter layer of cyclopean concrete.[20] The continuous side benches that have lasted until today were added in 1939, since the situation arose in which many citizens brought their own chairs to pass the time more comfortably, hindering the passage of people and occupying a lot of space.[5]​ The total length was calculated based on an occupancy of 4 people per square meter, which finally had to be increased to 6 due to the urgency of the situation.

The ventilation of the place, forced but natural, was entrusted to a series of uralite tubes 100 millimeters in diameter, close to the inlet openings, and which came out to the surface. These were not placed directly above the main gallery, but in secondary corridors that were not used for people to prevent remains of explosions or hand grenades from falling directly on the refugee population.[21]​.

The lighting was provided by parallel copper wires mounted on the keystone of the vault on insulating supports made of wood or ceramic. Light bulbs of 15 or 25 watts of power were used to limit visibility from the outside. The main shelters had autonomous generators for use in case of emergency.

In total, there are 67 entrances to the main shelter, the total being more than a hundred according to the maps (some sources put them at exactly 101),[22]​ although many of these entrances were sealed when they were no longer useful.[2]​ Some churches, such as those of San Pedro or San Sebastián, also had private entrances. It was intended that there should be no more than 100 meters to an entrance from any point in the city.

The capacity of these shelters was calculated at the beginning of the bombings. In the city of Almería, before the construction of these shelters, the population hid from air attacks in the iron ore deposits of the Compañía Andaluza de Minas, the Cueva de las Mellizas, with capacity for 3,000 people; the cave dwellings in the poor neighborhoods, in which up to 6,000 people were hidden; and the basements of some private buildings, which also underwent adaptation for this use.[7] These caves and mines were estimated to have a capacity of 12,000 people, so these shelters had to be capable of providing shelter to the rest of the citizens. Shortly before the start of the Spanish Civil War, it was estimated that 52,000 people lived in Almería, so Guillermo Langle planned these passageways for about 40,000 people.[2]​.

The area with the greatest depth compared to the surface corresponds to the cupboard, a room located about 16 meters deep in an area very close to the Central Market of Almería; Furthermore, he had a connection with it. Food was stored in this room for possible long-term attacks that, fortunately, never happened. It was planned that there would be a direct exit to the market to be able to go quickly to collect food from there that would later be rationed among the refugees.[2]​.

Attached to the public network of shelters were two private shelters that in turn served as an entrance to the public network for third parties. Many other private shelters were built - family or community - but disconnected from the main network. These shelters were located under the owners' homes and were separated from the network by a metal fence that has now disappeared, leaving only some remains.

The ownership of one of these two connected shelters is attributed to the architect Guillermo Langle, but it is documented that not only is this not the case but that Langle himself changed his residence to the nearby town of Pechina during the war from which he traveled daily to the capital.

The underground shelters have an operating room, although this was not built until 1938, shortly after the arrival of the survivors of the Málaga-Almería highway massacre. Due to this completely unforeseen event, the Evacuation Delegation was created), under which a new gallery was created that connected it with the shelters, in which the operating room was installed.[23] Unlike the rest of the shelters, the operating room was paved with marble tiles, brought from the quarries of Macael. It also had its own combustion system for generating electricity, independent of the general wiring, which was It disconnected during the bombings; waiting and treatment rooms and a medicine cabinet with a sink.[24]​.

The material that has been installed on the site for the musealization was not originally located here, but was donated, like most of the objects used for its decoration, by local people. It was Dr. Eusebio Álvaro who donated all the medical instruments that are exhibited today, from the year 1941.[25]​.

It has a small waiting room paved with checkered gray and black Macael marble tiles, as well as long benches also covered in tiles and ocher and pink stuccoed walls, imitating bricks placed in staggered fashion.[2]​.

The walls of these shelters are dotted with scribbles and engravings, made freehand while the cement was still wet or with sharp instruments once it was dry. Most are presumably of children, who staged planes, ships and bombs falling from the sky. There is also one in good condition left during the construction of a buttress that reads:

The originality of this inscription is known when a girl who visited the shelters recognized the name of her uncle.[26] However, according to the guides of the place themselves, they indicate that some other of these footprints do not date from war time, but are later.

Kiosks

Once the war was over, in December 1939, the government decided to seal the entrances to the main shelters to prevent them from being used by vagrants and becoming a source of plagues or infections. To do this, the main access openings were blocked with a series of kiosks with a rationalist design, also the work of architect Guillermo Langle. Even today, some of them are still standing, and are part of the rest of the urban furniture. They can be seen, although some have been quite renovated, in Plaza Urrutia, Plaza Conde Ofalia or Plaza Virgen del Mar, among others.[21]​.

If we entered these kiosks today, we would find a trapdoor in the floor, originally made of wood, that covers the access via stairs to the shelters.

Cultural and tourist attraction

This monument was opened to the public on December 14, 2006. Given its underground, labyrinthine and closed nature, there are only guided tours, in groups of a maximum of 30 people. The route is adapted for people who use wheelchairs.[27]​.

Of the 4 and a half kilometers that were built, almost 1 kilometer has been recovered, which is covered by guided tours.[28]​ On this route you can also see a private shelter, the operating room, the pantry warehouse and the interconnections with other tunnels.[19]​ At the end of 2012 they were closed for two months to improve the facilities, which had deteriorated due to the influx of visitors, a work that included an investment of €100,000.[29]​.

During the months of July and August 2013, this tourist attraction received a total of 2,685 visitors, being the third cultural space with the largest influx of visitors in the city.[30]​.

Unlike other shelters from the same period, such as those in Cartagena"), Barcelona") or Jaén"), these have survived practically intact to this day.[2] Other shelters of great importance at a European level, such as those in London or Berlin, have only been recovered in small areas.[31]​.

movie set

These shelters have served as the location for the development of a horror film "Terror (genre)"), directed by Xavier Cruzado, released in 2014, called Al sur de Guernica").[32]​.

• - Adra underground shelters").

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Underground shelters of Almería.

• - Almería Shelters.

• - Official video of Almería Tourism.

• - This article is a derivative work of «» by de, available under the license.

Although the total length of all of them exceeds four and a half kilometers, not all of them are interconnected, and today, only the longest is open to the public, located under the Paseo de Almería. They are built at an average depth of 9 meters below the surface,[19]​ with the lowest sections even below sea level, so there are some walls in which saltpeter leaks can be seen. There are galleries for shelter, two meters wide; and connecting galleries, which were narrower. The stairs are around 1.3 meters wide and all are L-shaped. All the galleries and rooms have a barrel vault,[7] with all the walls covered by a 60-centimeter layer of cyclopean concrete.[20] The continuous side benches that have lasted until today were added in 1939, since the situation arose in which many citizens brought their own chairs to pass the time more comfortably, hindering the passage of people and occupying a lot of space.[5]​ The total length was calculated based on an occupancy of 4 people per square meter, which finally had to be increased to 6 due to the urgency of the situation.

The ventilation of the place, forced but natural, was entrusted to a series of uralite tubes 100 millimeters in diameter, close to the inlet openings, and which came out to the surface. These were not placed directly above the main gallery, but in secondary corridors that were not used for people to prevent remains of explosions or hand grenades from falling directly on the refugee population.[21]​.

The lighting was provided by parallel copper wires mounted on the keystone of the vault on insulating supports made of wood or ceramic. Light bulbs of 15 or 25 watts of power were used to limit visibility from the outside. The main shelters had autonomous generators for use in case of emergency.

In total, there are 67 entrances to the main shelter, the total being more than a hundred according to the maps (some sources put them at exactly 101),[22]​ although many of these entrances were sealed when they were no longer useful.[2]​ Some churches, such as those of San Pedro or San Sebastián, also had private entrances. It was intended that there should be no more than 100 meters to an entrance from any point in the city.

The capacity of these shelters was calculated at the beginning of the bombings. In the city of Almería, before the construction of these shelters, the population hid from air attacks in the iron ore deposits of the Compañía Andaluza de Minas, the Cueva de las Mellizas, with capacity for 3,000 people; the cave dwellings in the poor neighborhoods, in which up to 6,000 people were hidden; and the basements of some private buildings, which also underwent adaptation for this use.[7] These caves and mines were estimated to have a capacity of 12,000 people, so these shelters had to be capable of providing shelter to the rest of the citizens. Shortly before the start of the Spanish Civil War, it was estimated that 52,000 people lived in Almería, so Guillermo Langle planned these passageways for about 40,000 people.[2]​.

The area with the greatest depth compared to the surface corresponds to the cupboard, a room located about 16 meters deep in an area very close to the Central Market of Almería; Furthermore, he had a connection with it. Food was stored in this room for possible long-term attacks that, fortunately, never happened. It was planned that there would be a direct exit to the market to be able to go quickly to collect food from there that would later be rationed among the refugees.[2]​.

Attached to the public network of shelters were two private shelters that in turn served as an entrance to the public network for third parties. Many other private shelters were built - family or community - but disconnected from the main network. These shelters were located under the owners' homes and were separated from the network by a metal fence that has now disappeared, leaving only some remains.

The ownership of one of these two connected shelters is attributed to the architect Guillermo Langle, but it is documented that not only is this not the case but that Langle himself changed his residence to the nearby town of Pechina during the war from which he traveled daily to the capital.

The underground shelters have an operating room, although this was not built until 1938, shortly after the arrival of the survivors of the Málaga-Almería highway massacre. Due to this completely unforeseen event, the Evacuation Delegation was created), under which a new gallery was created that connected it with the shelters, in which the operating room was installed.[23] Unlike the rest of the shelters, the operating room was paved with marble tiles, brought from the quarries of Macael. It also had its own combustion system for generating electricity, independent of the general wiring, which was It disconnected during the bombings; waiting and treatment rooms and a medicine cabinet with a sink.[24]​.

The material that has been installed on the site for the musealization was not originally located here, but was donated, like most of the objects used for its decoration, by local people. It was Dr. Eusebio Álvaro who donated all the medical instruments that are exhibited today, from the year 1941.[25]​.

It has a small waiting room paved with checkered gray and black Macael marble tiles, as well as long benches also covered in tiles and ocher and pink stuccoed walls, imitating bricks placed in staggered fashion.[2]​.

The walls of these shelters are dotted with scribbles and engravings, made freehand while the cement was still wet or with sharp instruments once it was dry. Most are presumably of children, who staged planes, ships and bombs falling from the sky. There is also one in good condition left during the construction of a buttress that reads:

The originality of this inscription is known when a girl who visited the shelters recognized the name of her uncle.[26] However, according to the guides of the place themselves, they indicate that some other of these footprints do not date from war time, but are later.

Kiosks

Once the war was over, in December 1939, the government decided to seal the entrances to the main shelters to prevent them from being used by vagrants and becoming a source of plagues or infections. To do this, the main access openings were blocked with a series of kiosks with a rationalist design, also the work of architect Guillermo Langle. Even today, some of them are still standing, and are part of the rest of the urban furniture. They can be seen, although some have been quite renovated, in Plaza Urrutia, Plaza Conde Ofalia or Plaza Virgen del Mar, among others.[21]​.

If we entered these kiosks today, we would find a trapdoor in the floor, originally made of wood, that covers the access via stairs to the shelters.

Cultural and tourist attraction

This monument was opened to the public on December 14, 2006. Given its underground, labyrinthine and closed nature, there are only guided tours, in groups of a maximum of 30 people. The route is adapted for people who use wheelchairs.[27]​.

Of the 4 and a half kilometers that were built, almost 1 kilometer has been recovered, which is covered by guided tours.[28]​ On this route you can also see a private shelter, the operating room, the pantry warehouse and the interconnections with other tunnels.[19]​ At the end of 2012 they were closed for two months to improve the facilities, which had deteriorated due to the influx of visitors, a work that included an investment of €100,000.[29]​.

During the months of July and August 2013, this tourist attraction received a total of 2,685 visitors, being the third cultural space with the largest influx of visitors in the city.[30]​.

Unlike other shelters from the same period, such as those in Cartagena"), Barcelona") or Jaén"), these have survived practically intact to this day.[2] Other shelters of great importance at a European level, such as those in London or Berlin, have only been recovered in small areas.[31]​.

movie set

These shelters have served as the location for the development of a horror film "Terror (genre)"), directed by Xavier Cruzado, released in 2014, called Al sur de Guernica").[32]​.

• - Adra underground shelters").

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Underground shelters of Almería.

• - Almería Shelters.

• - Official video of Almería Tourism.

• - This article is a derivative work of «» by de, available under the license.