The Spanish city of Almería suffered up to 52 bombings from air and sea, with a total of 754 bombs dropped during the Spanish Civil War. This led to the decision to create a system of underground shelters for the protection of approximately 40,000 civilians. These shelters measure more than 4.5 km long, and they are equipped with a surgery room and a food storage room. They were designed by the local architect , being today the most important and better preserved shelters in all Europe. These refuges have stood the most important attack in all Almería's history, the Bombardment of Almería, by the nazis in 1937.