Hello! Welcome back to our course on the history of Barcelona.
In our last lesson, we examined the dramatic conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the Siege of Barcelona and the city's fall on September 11, 1714. We saw how this defeat led to the imposition of the Decreto de Nueva Planta, which dismantled Catalonia's centuries-old political institutions and system of self-governance.
Today, we will focus on a powerful physical symbol of this new era of subjugation: Montjuïc Castle. This lesson will explain how the castle's function was deliberately transformed from a fortress meant to defend Barcelona into a bastion used to control and suppress it. We will trace this evolution from the immediate aftermath of 1714 through its darkest moments in the 19th and 20th centuries.
1. A Strategic Re-Purposing
To understand the magnitude of the change, it's essential to recall the castle's role before 1714. It was originally built by the Catalans during the Reapers' War (1640) to defend the city from the troops of King Philip IV. During the War of the Spanish Succession, it was again a key defensive position for the pro-Austrian forces in Barcelona, heroically resisting a Bourbon assault in 1706. For the people of Barcelona, Montjuïc was their protector.
After 1714, this relationship was inverted. The victorious Bourbon monarchy, determined to prevent any future Catalan rebellion, devised a new system of military control.
To understand this new strategic doctrine, please read a short section from the official guide to Montjuïc Castle. It explicitly describes the post-1714 plan for controlling the city.
First, read the paragraph starting 'The “Nova Planta” regime outlined a city defence system...' in the section titled 'The Bourbon fortress'. Then, find the section titled 'The artillery batteries (7)' and read the paragraph that begins 'As for Barcelona’s physical features...'. Focus on the dual-fortress system and the stated purpose of controlling the city from two opposing sides.
As the reading explains, the new regime envisioned a pincer of military control.
- The Ciutadella: A massive new citadel was constructed on the opposite side of the city, deliberately built over a large section of the Ribera neighborhood. Its cannons faced inward, a clear threat to the populace.
- Montjuïc Castle: The existing castle was to be completely rebuilt and reinforced to dominate the city from the south.
Together, these two fortresses ensured that Barcelona was permanently under the watch and threat of the central government's military. The city's primary defense had become its primary threat.
2. Forging a Fortress of Control: The Cermeño Redesign
This strategic vision was not just a paper plan; it was realized through one of the most significant military engineering projects of 18th-century Spain. The task of transforming Montjuïc fell to the military engineer Juan Martín Cermeño.
Beginning in 1751, Cermeño undertook a massive reconstruction that gave the castle the form it largely retains today. This was not a simple renovation. The goal was to create an almost impregnable fortress capable of housing a large garrison and projecting overwhelming force onto the city below.
The fortress in the 18th century | Castell de Montjuïc
Let's look at the details of this transformation. The following text describes the architectural and military enhancements made under Cermeño's direction.
Please read the section starting 'Planning was completed in 1751 and work began in 1753...' down to '...improvements, repairs and maintenance have been a constant since then.' Pay attention to the scale of the new fortifications: the new bastions, the moat, the ramps, and the water cisterns designed to support a large force.
The key elements of Cermeño's design all point towards a function of occupation and control:
- Massive Bastions: The creation of the Sant Carles and Santa Amàlia bastions, along with reinforced existing structures, created interlocking fields of fire.
- Huge Garrison Capacity: The new barracks could house over 2,000 soldiers.
- Overwhelming Firepower: The fortress was equipped with around 120 artillery pieces, including cannons, howitzers, and mortars.
- Self-Sufficiency: Large cisterns for water ensured a garrison could withstand a long siege—not from an external enemy, but from the potentially hostile city it occupied.
The result was a state-of-the-art fortress, perfectly designed to enforce the "due subjection" that the Bourbon authorities demanded.
3. The Castle of Bombardments
For over a century, the threat from Montjuïc was largely implicit. However, in the turbulent 19th century, as Barcelona became a hotbed of revolutionary and progressive movements, that threat became terrifyingly real. The castle earned its dark reputation by turning its cannons on the city's own citizens.
The most infamous instances occurred in 1842 and 1843.
The following reading provides a stark account of these events, which cemented the castle's image as an instrument of state terror in the minds of Barcelona's people.
Please read the section titled 'The Castle of Bombardments'. Focus on the reasons for the bombardments (popular insurrections) and the devastating, indiscriminate nature of the attacks.
As the text describes:
- 1842: In response to a revolt against the authoritarian government of General Espartero, the army retreated to Montjuïc and subjected the city to a 12-hour indiscriminate bombardment, killing and wounding civilians and causing widespread destruction. The goal was pure terror.
- 1843: During a radical federalist and social revolt known as the "La Jamància," the city was shelled systematically from Montjuïc for two months, killing hundreds and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
These events irrevocably defined the castle's relationship with the city. It was no longer a protector but a punisher, a symbol of a hostile state ready to use extreme violence against its own people.
4. The "Wicked Castle": Prison and Execution Site
As military technology evolved, the castle's role as a direct artillery platform became less critical. However, its function as a tool of repression simply mutated. From the late 19th century onwards, Montjuïc became Spain's most notorious political prison and execution ground.
This new role cemented its reputation as the "wicked castle," a place synonymous with injustice and brutality.
This final reading covers the castle's use as a center for detention, torture, and execution, a role it would play through the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship.
First, read the section 'The “wicked” castle', which details its use against the anarchist and republican movements. Then, read 'The castle under Franco' to see the continuation of this role. Finally, read the description of 'The moats (10)' to understand how these spaces were used for executions, most famously that of President Companys.
Several key events defined this period:
- The Montjuïc Trials (1896-97): Following an anarchist bombing, hundreds of activists were rounded up and held in the castle without legal protection. Torture was used to extract confessions, leading to irregular trials and executions that caused an international outcry.
- The Tragic Week (1909): After a popular uprising against military conscription, the castle was again used for mass detentions and courts-martial. The libertarian educator Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia was executed in its moat, becoming a martyr for the international progressive movement.
- The Franco Regime (1939-1975): After the Civil War, the castle became a key site of Francoist repression. Its most infamous act was the execution of Lluís Companys, the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, on October 15, 1940. He was shot in the Santa Eulàlia moat, a crime that deeply scarred the Catalan collective memory.
Conclusion
In this lesson, we have traced the grim transformation of Montjuïc Castle. What was once a guardian of Barcelona was systematically repurposed by the central state into its jailer.
Key Takeaways:
- Following the defeat of 1714, the Bourbon monarchy redesigned its military posture in Barcelona, turning Montjuïc and the new Ciutadella into a pincer of internal control.
- The massive reconstruction by Juan Martín Cermeño in the mid-18th century physically transformed the castle into a formidable fortress designed to suppress the city.
- This repressive capability was brutally demonstrated in the bombardments of 1842 and 1843, which terrorized the civilian population.
- From the late 19th century onwards, the castle's primary repressive function shifted to that of a political prison, torture center, and execution site, cementing its dark legacy with events like the Montjuïc Trials and the execution of President Lluís Companys.
The history of Montjuïc Castle from 1714 onwards is a physical manifestation of the loss of Catalan autonomy. It stands as a powerful monument to centuries of conflict between the centralizing Spanish state and the city of Barcelona.
In our next module, we will shift our focus to the profound economic and social forces that were reshaping Barcelona in the 19th century. We will explore how the city, despite its political subjugation, became Spain's industrial heartland, setting the stage for new forms of social conflict and the rebirth of Catalan identity.