The bunkers of Clot de Galvany, Mediterranean Wall, 1937-1938

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the government of the Second Republic ordered the fortification of the Mediterranean coast in 1937 to defend the population and cities from future landings and aerial bombardments from the island of Mallorca. This defense system, which we call the Mediterranean Wall due to its similarity to the Atlantic Wall, was organized at two levels: bunkers were located at beach level, and coastal and anti-aircraft batteries were located on the tops of hills and cliffs. This communication presents the photogrammetric survey of the military settlement deployed around Clot de Galvany (Elche, Spain), next to Carabassí beach, carried out between 1937 and 1938: a complex strategically located along the hills to repel a hypothetical troop landing. This is a detachment consisting of a line of trenches facing the national highway and a dozen bunkers of different shapes, sizes, and types (single- and double-bay, single- and double-story), some of which are camouflaged with the topography to make them invisible to the enemy. The survey of the complex is carried out using photogrammetry, both of the exterior and interior of the defenses, given the small size of their spaces. This graphic survey is part of a larger investigation to document the technical and material legacy of the Mediterranean Wall in the mid-20th century, as many of the original plans for these structures were lost during the war. This documentation reveals the territorial relationship between them, their typological genealogy as masterpieces of modern architecture, their mimetic materiality, the integration of the defenses into the surrounding landscape, and their current reuse as viewpoints overlooking nature.