ARCHIVED - Elche Mayoress visits Cartagena to research Civil War Air Raid shelter possibilities

Elche would like to turn their newly uncovered air raid shelter into a tourist attraction along the lines of the Cartagena museum

The Town Hall of Elche is considering a proposal to turn the city’s newly discovered Civil War air raid shelter beneath the Plaza de la Fruita into a museum and visitor centre, and in order to see for herself how such a centre might be set up Mayoress Mercedes Alonso visited Cartagena on Monday to take a look at the equivalent in the coastal city.

Accompanied by her local counterpart Pilar Barreiro, Sra Alonso paid a visit to the Cartagena Civil War shelter and museum, which has been converted into a visitor attraction and receives large numbers of visitors. She was also shown the area of the Roman Forum and the amphitheatre, accompanied by various other councillors from both Elche and Cartagena.

The Cartagena air raid shelter is now a full-scale museum, with five areas which house temporary exhibitions under the streets of the city, although is considerably smaller than the complex discovered in Elche which is on four levels and has more than 200 metres of tunnels. Elche’s councillor for Culture, Pablo Ruz, commented that the Cartagena centre is extremely well preserved and presented, and in the light of what he and his colleagues gleaned from their visit an assessment will be made of what kind of equivalent might be feasible and beneficial to the city of Elche.

Sra Alonso stated just six weeks ago that it is one of her administration’s priorities to protect, preserve and promote Elche’s air raid shelter and historic remains, and now the means of financing such a project with the support of provincial and national institutions is being examined.

In passing, the Mayoress attended Sunday’s football match between FC Cartagena and Atlético Sanluqueño, for whom her son plays, but her support was not enough and the visitors went down 2-1.

Click Cartagena Civil War Air Raid shelter for more information about the site in Cartagena