Barcelona · Spain
Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
A practical guide to Plaça de Sant Felip Neri in Barcelona: the hidden square with the scars of the 1938 bombing, what happened, how to read the wall, when to go and why to come back at night.
Worth it, even more if you arrive knowing what happened on January 30, 1938. It's a beautiful square and a memorial, both at once.
Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is a small, enclosed square behind the cathedral, reached through alleys, where the noise of the city almost disappears. On the south side stands the Baroque church of Sant Felip Neri, from 1721–1752, and its wall carries hundreds of shrapnel marks from a Civil War bombing.
Our experience
We got there at 16:05 on Wednesday, May 27, coming from the cathedral on our walk through the Gothic Quarter. We gave it about ten minutes: the wall, the plaque and the fountain. We went having read the history, because without it it’s easy to see only a pretty square and walk on. From there we walked to the convent sweets at Caelum, three minutes away. The full afternoon is in our arrival in Barcelona.
A bit of history
The church was built by the architect Pere Bertran for the Congregation of the Oratory, which settled here in 1673. During the war, the Republican Catalan government used the church as an air-raid shelter, especially for refugee children.
On the morning of January 30, 1938, Italian planes flying for Franco out of Mallorca bombed central Barcelona. One bomb fell on the church porch. Minutes later, a second fell on the square while neighbors tried to rescue the wounded. Forty-two people died, most of them children.
For decades Franco’s regime claimed the marks came from firing squads executing priests. In 2007 the City Council put up a plaque telling what happened, and in 2018, 80 years after the bombing, signs with more context were added.
Gaudí came to this church almost every evening. In June 1926 he was walking here from the Sagrada Família when he was struck by a tram.
What to see, in order
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The entrance from Montjuïc del Bisbe
The square appears suddenly at the end of an alley. It's the best way to arrive.
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The church wall
Hundreds of shrapnel marks at the height of a person. They come from the two bombs of 1938, not from bullets or firing squads.
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The 2007 plaque
On the church wall. It remembers the 42 victims, most of them children, killed by the actions of Franco's air force. Read it before you listen to any guide.
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The octagonal fountain
A stone fountain with a single jet, added in the 1950s reconstruction and dedicated as a symbol of life.
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The facades that came from elsewhere
Some buildings, like the Casa Cabra, were taken apart stone by stone in other parts of the neighborhood and rebuilt here in the mid-20th century.
Tips we wish we’d known
Tips
- You can run your hand over the scarred wall, respectfully; it's allowed.
- From 10:00 to 17:00 there are photo shoots in front of the wall that sometimes block the plaque. If that happens, wait a few minutes or come back later.
- At recess, the children from the school next door play in the square.
- The film Perfume, from 2006, was shot here: the square stood in for a street in 18th-century Paris.
Do
- Come back at night if you can: with the fountain and a single streetlamp, the wall looks different.
- Ask to see a Generalitat license before paying a guide.
- Continue to Caelum, on Carrer de la Palla, three minutes away.
Don’t
- Don't believe anyone who tells you the marks are from firing squads: that's the version Franco's regime spread.
- Don't walk into the "free flamenco classes" nearby: they end in a €40–90 sales pitch.
- Don't pay the photographers offering photo shoots in front of the wall.
Frequently asked questions
What happened at Plaça de Sant Felip Neri?
On January 30, 1938, the Italian air force flying for Franco dropped two bombs: one on the church, which served as a shelter for children, and another on the square as rescuers arrived. Forty-two people died, most of them children.
Are the marks on the wall from bullets?
No. They're shrapnel from the bombs. Under the dictatorship it was claimed they came from firing squads, and the 2007 plaque corrected that version.
How much time should you give it?
About 10 minutes. If you can, come back at night.
Where is it?
Behind the cathedral, about three minutes on foot, between Carrer del Bisbe and Carrer de la Palla.