Air Raid Memorial

This sculpture, by local artist Frana Favata, depicts an adult raising up a small child with outstretched arms, from the rubble of war. It is a memorial to the seventy men, women and children who were killed by a direct hit on a large public, underground air raid shelter, during a German raid in March 1941.

It was the largest loss of civilian lives in a single incident in the city during the war.

The shelter is still there and above it has grown up the University campus. The memorial is well placed near the original entrance to the shelter.

There were believed to be nearly eight hundred people in the shelter that night and its design proved very effective in limiting the death toll, for "limiting" was what it was designed to do, for there was no complete defence against a "direct hit".
Click for a conducted tour of the underground shelter as it is today.