T2xC8 - Death at the Liceu | Cultural Heritage. Goverment of Catalonia.

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T2xC8 - Death at the Liceu

In 1893, the Gran Teatre del Liceu was the scene of one of the most serious terrorist attacks ever experienced in Catalonia. The events sent shock waves through society, as the records show.

That 7 November was an important day in Barcelona. The opera season at the Liceu was beginning, and anyone who was someone in the city’s high society was there that evening, dressed to the nines, to attend the performance of Rossini’s William Tell. Santiago Salvador, twenty-seven years old, knew this. From his spot in the gallery, he watched the first act with contempt for the well-dressed crowd filling the stalls and first-floor boxes. At 10.15 pm, after a brief intermission, as the opening bars of the second act began to play, he removed the two Orsini bombs he had hidden and dropped them into the middle of the audience. 
 
 


1. Reproduction of the sculpture The Temptation of Man by Antoni Gaudí, located at Basilica of the Sagrada Família. The devil is depicted offering a worker an Orsini bomb. Author: BERTRAN, Marc-Jesús. The Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona 1837-1930, Instituto Gráfico Oliva de Vilanova, 1931.

2. Facade of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, c. 1880 Author: M. Sala. BERTRAN

3. Title deed for a seat at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, 1873. Source: Casa de Caritat.  

The explosion was devastating and caused panic among the attendees, who tried to flee the theatre as best they could. In the stalls, the scene was Dantean. Blood and guts everywhere. Agonised screams, and a heap of corpses. In total, there were twenty deaths and nearly thirty seriously injured. Among the victims were the soprano’s sister and two girls aged 14 and 16.

Santiago Salvador took advantage of the chaos to flee the Liceu and go into hiding. From that moment on, he became the most wanted man in Catalonia and Spain. The attack was so horrifying that it even attracted international press coverage, and messages of solidarity arrived from all over. Rossini’s opera William Tell would not be performed again for thirty-two years.
 

Hearses from the Casa de Caritat, c. 1880. Author: Carlos Bertazioli. Source: Barcelona Provincial Council

For example, the Barcelona Provincial Council Archive preserves telegrams sent by other provincial bodies, such as that of Zaragoza.  But the most touching document is the brief note written by the victims’ families addressed to the president of the Provincial Council, Manuel Planas Casals, thanking him for supporting the affected families from the very beginning and for being with them when they were transferred to the Hospital de la Santa Creu after the attack. That concise note also included a request that Planas Casals attend the funeral, which was held at the church in the Plaça del Pi on the 15th. Naturally, the president accepted the invitation.
 
Before attending the funeral, the provincial body held a plenary session where, at the president’s request, it was agreed to send a telegram to the Council of Ministers, asking that the criminals responsible for the atrocity be pursued by all possible means.

 
 



Letter of thanks from the families of the victims of the Liceu bombing addressed to Manuel Planas Casals, president of Barcelona Provincial Council, 1893. Source: Barcelona Provincial Council (CAT AGDB 1607, file 4)

The request may have been merely a formality because the central authorities had imposed martial law in Barcelona and, using the attack as a pretext, began a widespread crackdown on the anarchist movement. Salvador was not arrested until 2 January 1894, when he was located in Zaragoza. He was immediately transferred to Barcelona to face trial. During questioning, when asked why he had used the bombs, he justified his actions as an act of revenge for the execution of the anarchist terrorist Paulí Pallàs, who had been shot just a month earlier and who had also carried out an attack with Orsini bombs. Throughout the trial, Salvador showed no remorse and admitted that he had intended to cause as much harm as possible. 
 


Will of the anarchist Santiago Salvador Franch. Source: Barcelona Historical Archive of Protocols (AHPB_1422_15_2838r_2839r)

Santiago Salvador was tried and sentenced to death. The execution by garrote took place on 21 November in the Pati dels Corders, today Plaça Folch i Torres. In addition to him, six workers, unconnected to the attack but accused due to their anarchist affiliation, were also executed.

 
 
 


Minutes of the Plenary Session of Barcelona Provincial Council, 11 November 1893. Source: Barcelona Provincial Council (CAT AGDB vol.58)
 

Barcelona Provincial Council Archive

A horrifying episode that has left its mark in the archives, as can be seen by consulting this documentation, which forms part of the Barcelona Provincial Council Archive.
 

Photos from the Barcelona Provincial Council Archive. Author: Lorena Ruiz Pellicero

Do you want to know more details about this story?

Consult the original document on which this story is based at Arxius en Línia (Archives Online).

https://www.diba.cat/documents/94831/391772223/4-AGDB_1607_exp_4_Liceu_atemptat_telegrama1.tif.pdf/533c6668-3d38-40c3-8c95-cf6b7d8e9432?t=1686729764876 

And if you want to consult it in person at the Barcelona Provincial Council General Archive, ask for the document “CAT AGDB 1607” in File 4 of the Barcelona Provincial Council Collection.
 


Cover of the file on the attack at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on the night of 7 November 1893. Source: Barcelona Provincial Council (CAT AGDB 1607, file 4)

The importance of the document

And, if you still want to delve deeper, watch this video in which Alícia Xicota Viñé and Helena Escobar Viñé, from the technical staff at the Barcelona Provincial Council General Archive, explain the importance of the document chosen to tell this story.