After the bombing of the city of Jaén by Francoist troops on April 1, 1937, which caused 159 fatalities and considerable material damage, measures were taken to prevent and minimize future air attacks: sound warnings, night-time darkness by turning off lights and the construction of several public underground shelters scattered throughout the city.

Shelters that, at the end of the war, were abandoned and even forgotten, with significant physical deterioration. One of them, located in the Plaza de Santiago, was built using the old crypts of the Church of Santiago. A shelter that had a capacity to accommodate up to 1,040 people in its different corridors in the event of a possible bombing.

This refuge has been recovered as a space for interpretation of the Civil War and as a place of historical memory of Andalusia. In its corridors you can see various photographs of the bombing, the tragic consequences it caused, as well as other testimonies such as front pages of the Southern Front or various poems by Miguel Hernández. The refuge can also be seen through a virtual visit:  http://www.bimnd.es/wp-content/uploads/Panorama/Refugio.html.