The City Council of Montgat (Maresme) has approved the declaration of four Cultural Assets of Local Interest (BCIL). These are military-type constructions, used before and during the Civil War: the Montgat Batteries, the Montsolís beach bunkers and the Riera d'en Font, as well as two anti-aircraft positions or machine gun nests that were are close to the coast.
After receiving the request from the council, the Cultural Heritage Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council made a favorable report for the declaration of the four elements as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest (BCIL) in accordance with its own cultural values, indicating the elements that are capable of protection. For its writing, from the Cultural Heritage Office an important historical research work was carried out.
The technical justification for the declaration as Cultural Assets of Local Interest is its singularity, both architectural and due to its social and patrimonial link with the municipality. These are elements related to the historical evolution of the municipality at a specific time and marked a very characteristic relationship with its surroundings. Therefore, the declaration is justified not only by its architectural values, but also symbolic and landscape values, being historical elements of interest to the municipality.
As shown in these reports, throughout the Maresme coast there are several vestiges of the Civil War or earlier, such as casemates or bunkers, machine gun nests, anti-aircraft batteries and some anti-aircraft shelters for the civilian population. In Montgat, the first batteries were built to face possible attacks during the Cuban War, in 1898, but they were not used until almost four decades later. Many originated as a coastal defensive line, carried out by the Republican army, and were later taken over and modified by the Francoist army.
The Montgat batteries are located in the Battery Park, which was classified as an urban park in 2004. As a result, the Battery Park was created, which contains the different elements of this old military complex. This battery was made up of four platforms for anti-aircraft guns and other related equipment, which served to defend the port of Barcelona and the Maresme coast. It currently preserves two cannons that are later than the time in which they were built.
The bunker on Montsolís beach is an anti-aircraft position or machine gun nest that is located off the coast, on Montsolís beach, near the intersection of the N-II and the old coastal road, at the entrance to Montgat Nord. Light artillery against ships and aircraft was placed in these coastal positions. The building has a semicircular floor plan and a horizontal roof, so it was invisible from the air.
The Riera d'en Font bunker or casemate is located at the intersection of Sant Joan beach and Montsolís beach, at the point where the d'en Font stream empties, to the south of the Montgat Nord railway station and off the coast. It is an anti-aircraft position or machine gun nest that is located off the coast, next to the outflow of the Font stream. Light artillery against ships and aircraft was placed in these coastal positions. The building has a rectangular floor plan and a sloping roof, making it invisible from the air.
The machine gun nests and the support platform for a lighting projector were located very close to the coast, in these positions light artillery was placed against ships and aviation. They are two casemates built on the cliff in such a way that they take advantage of the unevenness of the land to be semi-buried. They were individual protections to place machine guns, and they seem to be for anti-aircraft pieces of the republican army. There is also a platform that was intended to place a lighting projector. Currently they do not conserve the cover, but they do have vertical concrete cylinders on which the protective concrete cover surely rested.
