Coinciding with World Refugee Day, Montjuïc Castle is commemorating with a historical exhibition how the Lluís Companys Stadium served as a refuge for thousands of people during the Civil War.
World Refugee Day coincides with the launch of the "Barça More Than a Club" exhibition, "Montjuïc, a Refuge Stadium," at Montjuïc Castle, organized by the FC Barcelona Foundation and UNHCR. Between the fall of 1936 and the spring of 1937, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, the Lluís Companys Stadium in Montjuïc welcomed more than 21,000 displaced people from different parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Polish-born photographer Margaret Michaelis captured the daily lives of the thousands of families (parents, children, and young people) who passed through this sports venue.
The collection of images in the exhibition shows the daily lives of these displaced people at the stadium, which transformed some of its facilities to accommodate them. The photographs show classes being taught in classrooms set up in the stands or directly on the pitch, physical activity and sports sessions, household chores such as cooking, hanging out clothes, and sewing; how they received medical and dental care; and simply everyday scenes from the dining halls set up in the stadium, which has been converted into a center for displaced people.
This exhibition opened in October 2023 at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, home of FC Barcelona for the past two years. It has subsequently been displayed at the Barça Store Exhibition Sagrada Familia and at Casa Navàs in Reus, an impressive 1908 modernist building by the prestigious Catalan architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Now, the exhibition returns to an iconic site: Montjuïc mountain.
The FC Barcelona Foundation has been working on its own programs with refugees since 2017. In the case of Europe, it does so in Greece, with local Greek entities in refugee camps hosting refugee children and families from various countries in conflict, and also in Catalonia, in various projects aimed at refugees and migrants.
In all cases, the Foundation's work on behalf of refugees uses sport as a powerful tool to enable refugee children around the world to positively transform their lives. It does so from a holistic approach, so that it has a real and direct impact on aspects such as access to health and medical care, quality education, and equal opportunities for a dignified future.
According to the latest UNHCR annual report, at the end of April 2025, there were 122.1 million forcibly displaced people, compared to 120 million recorded in the same period the previous year. This represents approximately ten consecutive years of annual increases in the number of refugees and other people forcibly displaced. Myanmar and Ukraine, and the continued failure to stop the fighting.
The exhibition is located in the porch space between rooms 8 and 11 of the Pati d'Armes and it will be open till next november 2nd.
