Discover the thousand faces of Dalí
Descobreix les mil cares de Dalí
Descobreix les mil cares de Dalí
Plan of the shelter of the auxiliary telephone switchboard (Palmera Sq- Monturiol St), of the Local Passive Defence Board (JLDP) of Figueres, 1938. (AMF)
“The Government Commission, aware of the extraordinary zeal and activity that the telephone service staff put into their actions on the occasion of the bombing […], agreed to send you congratulations […]. ”
Official letter from Figueres City Council to the telephone services, 26 January 1938 (ACAE)
In June 1937, the Passive Defence Board of Catalonia (JDPC) was created as an organisation that was to take charge of civil protection and defence of the Catalan population in the face of an air, sea or aerochemical attack. Each city “where the needs advised it”, was to set up a Local Passive Defence Board (JLDP). On September 3, 1937, the one in Figueres was created, which was working until the last moment. The biggest problem it encountered was the lack of resources.
The Municipal architect Ricard Giralt Casadesús, taking advantage of an existing basement, designed one of these official shelters under the Telephone building (currently the headquarters of a bank with access from Palmera Sq). That shelter, also open to citizens, housed an auxiliary telephone switchboard so that, in the event of a bombing, the telephone operators could carry on working.
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