To develop this project, Iñaki Bergera located, georeferenced, and documented the 185 structures currently preserved in Sector 23, situated between 880 meters in Biescas and 1875 meters in Formigal. Between January 2024 and November 2025, over more than 30 days of work, nearly 1500 photographs—exterior, interior, and aerial—were taken and selected to form this comprehensive visual record.
Sector 23. The defensive organization of the Pyrenees in the Alto Gállego region, Huesca
Instruction C-15, signed on August 23, 1944, organized the defense of the Pyrenees based on the former military regions, dividing Aragon into five subsectors. Among them, Sector 23, corresponding to the Gállego Valley, acquired special importance due to its direct connection with France. In this area, five Resistance Nuclei (NR) were initially planned, later joined by a sixth in the Biescas and Gavín area. They were organized according to the following numbering and designation: NR 110 El Furco, NR 109 Sallent, NR 108 Las Grampas, NR 107 Panticosa, NR 106 Hoz de Jaca, and NR 120 Biescas.
Each Resistance Nucleus (NR) was structured into Support Points (PA) and Resistance Elements (ER), comprising defensive outposts with rifle companies, machine guns, and anti-tank defense systems, as well as depots, shelters, observation posts, and command posts. From 1945 onward, 213 outposts were built in this sector, many of which have disappeared or remain submerged beneath the Lanuza and Búbal reservoirs.
NR 106 Hoz de Jaca, Work 41, Machine gun. Coordinates 42.67163, -0.32199. Altitude 1,031 m. 15/2/2024. Photograph by Iñaki Bergera.
Typology and Archetype
Known as casemates or bunkers, these settlements reflect an architecture strictly dictated by their military function. Designed according to principles of standardization and industrialization, they included positions for automatic weapons, artillery, and air defense, as well as observation posts, command posts, and shelters. This typological system stands out for its formal clarity and its ability to adapt to the topography, establishing itself as an architectural repertoire where form derives directly from function.
In the Landscape
The works of the Pyrenees Defense Organization were implemented with an intention of camouflage, integrating into the mountains and forests while concealing their presence. However, their repeated locations reveal an almost invisible network that creates a new territorial layer. Their small scale contrasts with the monumentality of the landscape, acquiring a critical interpretation today akin to land art, where the built environment merges with nature.
NR 109 Sallent, Work 7, Machine Gun. Coord. 42.78294, -0.33452. Alt. 1,543 m. 7/3/2025. Photography by Iñaki Bergera.
Machines for Seeing
In the bunkers, the relationship between form and function becomes explicit: the embrasure acts as an eye observing the surrounding landscape. This small opening in the wall transforms the interior space into a camera obscura, turning the settlement into a veritable machine for seeing. Thus, the bunker is understood as a device that educates the gaze, making it conscious, selective, and critical of the landscape.
Penetration
Access to the bunkers is not conventional, but rather an intense spatial experience. The entrance, conceived as a crack or ramped threshold, implies a gradual transition from light to darkness. Entering these spaces is a conscious act that confronts the visitor with the unknown, evoking images of refuge, burrow, or tomb, and reinforcing the introspective nature of the journey.
NR 110 El Furco, Work 70, Anti-tank gun. Coordinates 42.78001, -0.37900. Altitude 1,535 m. 8/2/2024. Photograph by Iñaki Bergera.
Emerging into the Light
From the inside, the reference to the exit takes on a symbolic and vital value. Light is perceived as a link to the outside world and to safety, marking the return to open space. This reverse transition emphasizes the duality between protection and exposure, between the intimate and the public, recalling the essential connection to reality in the face of the darkness of confinement.
Firing Range
The firing range defines the essence of the bunker and its placement within the landscape. Each settlement is oriented according to its angle of vision, configuring a network of perspectives that control the landscape. This framing transforms the environment into a symbolic space where seeing is equivalent to dominating, establishing a direct relationship between observer, territory, and action.
NR 110 El Furco, Work 26, Machine Gun. Coordinates 42.7707, -0.36668. Altitude 1,516 m. 8/2/2024. Photograph by Iñaki Bergera.
Traces
Seen from the air, the footprint of the bunkers is revealed as a marked intervention on the landscape. The concrete emerges as a permanent scar, while access points and ramps create geometric forms that engage with the landscape. This aerial view allows us to understand the architectural logic of the complex, revealing an abstract composition that combines function, form, and memory.
Interior Worlds
The interior of the bunker presents itself as a minimal yet intense space, where light defines the experience. The atmosphere takes on an almost sacred character, in which the concrete, the traces of the formwork, and the dampness bear witness to the passage of time. Despite its small scale, the space feels solemn, imbued with a strong material and symbolic presence.
NR 109 Sallent, Work 19-48, Twin Machine Gun. Coordinates 42.76905, -0.33128. 1,293 m. 28/3/2024. Photograph by Iñaki Bergera.
Framed Views
The embrasures act as devices that capture and project the landscape, framing the view from within. What was once a defensive element becomes a perceptual mechanism that transforms vision into an aesthetic experience. Like a painter's window, the bunker constructs the landscape, generating a reflection on how we see and our relationship with the environment.
