During the month of May, the city has witnessed an intense calendar of events to recall, reflect on and also preserve our historic memory. Granollers has officially unveiled Can Jonch, Centre of Peace Culture, a benchmark facility on issues of peace and mediation. Citizens of all ages have taken part in the commemoration. If you want to see the video of the bombardment, click here

Can Jonch. The peace facility

More than 300 people gathered together on Saturday the 24th of May at number 19 Rec street for the official unveiling of Can Jonch, Centre of Peace Culture. The stirring event included moments full of recollections, featuring the Jonch family recalling the times they had spent in the house. Plus, Miquel Jonch announced that in gratitude for the remodelling, the family plans to sponsor a Peace Culture prize in the city. In the garden of the estate, several people took part in planting a Gernika oak seedling, including the president of the regional government of Bizcaia, Ana Madariaga Ugarte. The tree planting was accompanied by music performed by Jordi Savall, who played a Basque lullaby and El Cant dels Ocells. The event came to a close in the Theatre Auditorium with a concert by Jordi Savall.

The bomb shelter in Maluquer i Salvador square is now open

The Can Sínia bomb shelter, located on Maluquer i Salvador  square, has been open to visitors since Monday the 26th of May. It has undergone an intervention and refurbishment project which consisted of revamping the area without sacrificing its essence and the reason why it was originally built. The inside was cleaned up, the soil was compacted and the building was given an emergency exit. The most novel element is a hydraulic entrance door placed on the same level as the square with the pavement that the space will have in the future.

The bomb shelter measures approximately 25 metres long, it can fit up to 800 people and it occupies the entire rectangular area that today makes up Maluquer i Salvador square. The bomb shelter consists of a main hallway and six interconnected rooms, each with a vent that leads out to the square.

Dovetailing with the events planned to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombardment, new signs have been installed, and there is also a route around the sites that were bombarded, which includes the Museum of Granollers, the bomb shelters in Maluquer i Salvador square and La Porxada, and others. A few days ago, tiles designed by Vicenç Viaplana and produced by ceramist Toni Cumella have been placed next to the informational boards at the sites that were bombarded in May of 1938.

Granollers, a Town Open to Peace

The keynote event at the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the bombardment of Granollers was attended by the Councillor of Institutional Relations, Joan Saura and Councillor of Justice, Montserrat Tura, along with mayors, representatives from around 30 cities and the president of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and former general manager of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza.

One of the guest mayors was Manlio Marini, mayor of Foligno, an Italian city that was also bombarded during World War II, when the town had a major war industry in which it manufactured SAVOIA combat planes, the same type of plane that bombarded Granollers in 1938. Another mayor attending was Luc Dehaene from the town of Ypres in Belgium. Weapons of mass destruction (mustard gas) were used for the first time on this town's population during World War I.

The event was led and conducted by actor, Òscar Molina, a Granollers native, and the Chamber Orchestra of Granollers and Friends of the Union also participated. The event also witnessed the public declaration of the Manifesto of Cities Open to Peace, and it commemorated the tragic events suffered in Granollers, the Catalan city with the third highest number of bombardment victims after Barcelona and Figueres.

Gathering of Mayors for peace

Granollers has hosted a gathering of mayors of Catalan, Spanish and European cities that were bombarded. The gathering Mayors for Peace dovetailed with the presence in Granollers of many different representatives of cities that had been bombarded, including the representative of Mayors for Peace, the mayor of Ypres, Luc Dehaene. The gathering in Granollers revolved around the organisation project.