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Belchite, the open wound of Spain's civil war

Like many Spanish villages, Belchite was devastated by Spain's 1936-39 Civil War.

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'SENSITIVE ISSUE' The ruins of Belchite -- which include a cathedral pockmarked with bullet holes and gouged by mortar shells -- were visited by 40,000 people in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted travel. It has been dubbed "Spain's Pompeii", after the Roman city frozen in time when it was buried under ash from a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, said archaeologist Alfonso Fanjul.