Discover the thousand faces of Dalí
Descobreix les mil cares de Dalí
Descobreix les mil cares de Dalí
Aerial image of Sant Ferran Castle after the explosion of 8 February 1939. (CCFEA)
“DON AGUSTÍN MONASTERIO BUSTOS, Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Chiclana Mountain Battalion, Military Commander of Figueres, constitutional guarantees being suspended, […]”
Municipal Decree declaring a state of war in Figueres, 19 July 1936 (ACAE)
The castle of Sant Ferran was one of the major landmarks of the Civil War in Figueres, it witnessed it from beginning to end.
During the momentous hours following the coup d’état of July 18, 1936, the city was waiting to see what position the castle garrison would take with regard to the insurrection against the government of the Second Republic.
On 19 July, a state of war was declared in Figueres, but the next day, with the certainty that the coup plotters had been defeated in Barcelona, a military representation came down from the castle to the City Hall to show their compliance to the Republic.
In February 1939, during the retreat, the castle went down in history for housing part of the Republic’s historical and artistic treasure, hosting the last meeting of the Republican Cortes, as well as for the partial blowing up of the enclosure by Republican bombardiers before the Nationalists entered, which caused considerable damage and an explosive hailstorm over the city and its surroundings.
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