The fire at El Liceu, on 31 January 1994, stayed in the minds of people in Barcelona as although there were no victims, it reduced the iconic venue to ashes.

The Barcelona Fire Service will be offering more details in the lecture “The Liceu Fire” at the Espai Bombers, this Thursday at 7 pm. The session will be offered by the head of the watch for the Fire Service on that day, Miquel Àngel de la Fuente, who would later become the head of divisional operations with the corps. The lecture covers the full sequence of events and the efforts to preserve paintings and works of art, such as the collection of modernista paintings by the artist Ramon Casas.

The fire started with a spark from a blowing machine which some workers were using for maintenance work on the curtain. The resulting fire destroyed the wooden theatre within three hours. The huge column of smoke, with flames 70 metres high, was visible all around the city.

After the fire, all the administrations involved agreed to rebuild El Liceu as soon as possible. Five years later, in 1999, the venue re-opened.

To attend this session and discover all the details about how the fire originated, spread and was extinguished, all you need to do is sign up in advance by sending an email to espaibombers@bcn.cat and indicate the number of people.

This lecture forms part of the cycle “The Fire Service and its history”, an activity linked to the exhibition “Protecting Barcelona. Firefighters and fire prevention 1833-2022”, which explains how fire prevention measures have been applied in the city from when the Barcelona Fire Service was created through to the present day. The exhibition is on at the MUHBA Oliva Artés until 30 June.