The plan: Live and work under one roof
Studio, exhibitions, living
The old Telefonica building in Portbou is being revived – and remains a house of communication.
Studio
Former restaurant becomes painter's and sculptor's workshop (partly public)
Exhibition rooms
Former apartment on the ground floor is being converted into an exhibition area, with a cool inner courtyard
Meeting rooms
The exhibition rooms can occasionally be booked for symposiums.
Living area
First and second floors (not public), spacious stairwell is an exhibition space for installations.
The History of the Telefónica Building in Portbou
The "Telefónica Building" in Portbou is a small but historically very interesting building that is often overlooked, despite playing a central role in the final months of the Spanish Civil War and the escape of many people to France.
Chronology of Key Events
- 1927 – 1929
- Construction of the Telefónica telephone exchange (then Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España). Portbou was strategically important as a border town and a key railway junction for the international telecommunications connection between Spain and France.
- 1936 – January 1939
- Normal civilian use as an automatic telephone exchange and housing for technicians.
- January – February 1939
- Mass flight of Republicans ("La Retirada"). The building was used by the Republican army as the last communication center on Spanish soil. The final telephone and telegraph connections to Barcelona and France converged here.
- 5. – 10. February 1939
- In the final days before the fall of Catalonia, the building became the improvised headquarters of the Republican government's telecommunications. Soldiers and civilians desperately tried to reach relatives in France or Barcelona. Many historical photos show huge queues of people in front of the building.
- 10. February 1939
- The Republican troops blew up parts of the technical installations during their retreat to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Francoists. However, the building itself remained intact.
- 1939 – 1975
- Continued use as a Telefónica center under Franco, but heavily run down.
- 1990s – 2000s
- Modernization of technology; the ground floor was temporarily used as a Movistar shop. Later, the same location was occupied by the "Las Vegas" bar, fondly remembered by locals, and finally the "Portbou Café".
- From approx. 2015
- The building has been largely empty. There are local initiatives to convert it into a small museum about "La Retirada" and the role of telecommunications in the escape – so far without success.
- 2023
- Renovation work began.
Why It Is Little Known Today
Unlike the birthplace of Frederic Marès or the Walter Benjamin-memorial at the cemetery, the building has no official sign or plaque. Many locals simply know it as "l’edifici de Telefónica" or "la centraleta," without knowing the dramatic history of the final days of the war.
In summary: The Telefónica building in Portbou was, in the first days of February 1939, literally the last functioning telephone in Spain on Republican soil – a place where thousands of people tried one last time to say goodbye or organize help in the final hours before the border closed.
If you are on site: It is worth stopping briefly in front of it and imagining the scene from 1939 – the train station, through which over half a million people fled, is just a few meters away.
(!) This information was partly compiled with AI support and may contain errors. A thorough investigation of the sources used by the AI is still pending.