BIOiron
Industry
&
Heritage
4 walks www.bioiron.info
www.mybilbaobizkaia.com www.bilbaoturismo.net
Heritage Industry&
BILBAO TOURISM Plaza Circular, 1 Edificio Terminus 944 795 760
showing the industrial heritage of the estuary of Bilbao Before the titanium came iron
European Industrial and Technical Heritage Year
2015
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND MERCHANDISE
Industry
6
El Pontón Along the Los Caños route to the Ribera Market From the Area of the Mines to Harino Panadera New Areas/Classical Ensanche/Old Quarter
ASSESSMENT
MUSEUM OF IMAGES OF THE HOLY WEEK www.museodepasos.org
TRAM 902 543 210 · 944 019 900 www.euskotran.es
MUSEUM OF IMAGES OF THE HOLY WEEK www.plazatorosbilbao.com www.torosbilbao.com
TAXIS Radio Taxi Bilbao 944 448 888
BASQUE MUSEUM / EUSKAL MUSEOA www.euskal-museoa.org
Tele Taxi 944 102 121 Radio Taxi Nervión 944 269 026 BIKE HIRE Bilbon Bizi 944 205 193 944 203 113
GENERAL
VERY INTERESTING
OUTPATIENTS 112
ROUTE
GENERAL INFORMATION 010 (for calls from within Bilbao) 944 010 010 (for calls outside of Bilbao)
6.3 km
Heritage
METRO BILBAO 944 254 025 · www.metrobilbao.net
CONSULAR OFFICE Gran Vía 13-6º 944 706 426 CITIZEN INFORMATION 010 or 944 241 700
Walk 3
BILBAO CARD
This card is your passport to savings when planning your stay in Bilbao; use it for public transport, museum and theatre tickets, restaurants, shops and other leisure activities. Request it at any tourist information office or on: www.bilbao.net/bilbaoturismo
ROADS GENERAL INFORMATION 900 123 505 or 112
IRON: THE RED GOLD OF BIZKAIA
54
ASSESSMENT UNMISSABLE
ROUTE 9 km
Larreineta funicular railway La Arboleda - Zugaztieta Miners and mines: the devoured mountain
CONSUMER INFORMATION MUNICIPAL OFFICE 944 204 969 METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE 807 170 348 LOST AND FOUND 944 204 981
Ortuella
CUSTOMS Barroeta Aldámar, 1 · 944 234 700
EXTENSION 1: Mining remains between Kobaron and Pobeña. From Ortuella: 10 km.
PASSPORTS- VISAS- ID CARD Alcalde Uhagón, 6
EXTENSION 2: El Pobal foundry. From Ortuella: 10 km.
BILBAO DENDAK 944 706 500
EXTENSION 3: La Encartada textile factory. From El Pobal: 18 km.
GUGGENHEIM BILBAO MUSEUM www.guggenheim-bilbao.es
944 210 000 Ext. 215 DOCUMENTATION (GEN. INFORMATION) 900 150 000
ATHLETIC CLUB MUSEUM www.athletic-club.net EUSKARAREN ETXEA www.euskararenetxea.net ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM www.bizkaia.net
MUSEUMS IN BISCAY
ALONG THE COAST PESQUERO AGURTZA C.I. FISHING MUSEUM (Santurtzi) www.losmuseosdelacostavasca.com SANTURTZI ITSASOA INTERPRETATION CENTRE (Santurtzi) www.losmueosdelacostavasca.com RIALIA INDUSTRY MUSEUM (Portugalete) www.rialia.net BISCAY BRIDGE (Las Arenas-Getxo/Portugalete) www.puente-colgante.com FISHERMEN’S MUSEUM (Bermeo) www.bizkaikoa.bizkaia.net INLAND BALMASEDA MUSEUM (Balmaseda) www.visitenkarterri.com BOINAS LA ENCARTADA MUSEUM (Balmaseda) www.laencartadamuseoa.com BASQUE CHARTER MUSEUM (Sopuerta) www.enkarterrimuseoa.net EL POBAL SMITHY (Muskiz) www.bizkaia.net/elpobal
MUSEUMS IN BILBAO
LOIZAGA TOWER VINTAGE AND CLASSIC CAR MUSEUM (Galdames) www.torreloizaga.com
FINE ARTS MUSEUM www.museobilbao.com
BASQUE COUNTRY MINING MUSEUM (Gallarta) www.museominero.net
BILBAO BENEDICTO MUSEUM www.museo-benedicto.net
Version: MAY 2015. Version one Published by: Bilbao Bizkaia be Basque Content: Rúbrica Printers: Artes Gráficas Munguía, S.L. / Legal Deposit: BI-625-15
ARTISTIC REPRODUCTIONS MUSEUM www.museoreproduccionesbilbao.org
DIOCESAN MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS ART www.eleizmuseoa.com
“JOSÉ LUIS GOTI” MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF BASQUE MEDICINE AND SCIENCE (Leioa) www.bizkaia.ehu.es
BILBAO RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM www.museomaritimobilbao.org
OROZKO MUSEUM (Orozko) www.orozkoudala.com
BASQUE CULTURE MUSEUM (EUSKAL HERRIA) (Gernika-Lumo) www.bizkaia.net/euskalherriamuseoa GERNIKA PEACE MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Gernika-Lumo) www.museodelapaz.org GERNIKA MEETING HOUSE (Gernika-Lumo) www.gernika-lumo.net SIMÓN BOLÍVAR MUSEUM (Ziortza-Bolibar) www.simonbolibarmuseoa.com BASQUE FARMSTEAD ECOMUSEUM / EUSKAL BASERRIA (Artea) www.euskalbaserria.com DURANGO ART AND HISTORY MUSEUM (Durango) www.bizkaia.net VALENTÍN DE BERRIOTXOA MUSEUM (Elorrrio) www.museoberrio-otxoa.com
NATURE RESERVES
URDAIBAI BIOSPHERE RESERVE 944 650 822 www.busturialdeaurdaibai.com 946 870 402 (Ihobe) www.torremadariaga.net GORBEIA NATURE RESERVE 946 739 279 Areatza Park Interpretation Centre 945 430 167 · 946 315 525 Gorbeialdea · www.gorbeialdea.com www.gorbeiacentralpark.com URKIOLA NATURE RESERVE 946 814 155 · www.urkiola.net ARMAÑÓN NATURE RESERVE 946 800 226 · www.enkartur.net
Walk 2
INDUSTRY AND RIVER IN THE BOTXO
30
From the temple of knowledge to the old shipyards Industrial architecture of the twentieth century Back to Bilbao
ASSESSMENT INTERESTING
ROUTE 8.4 km
Walk 4
ONE RIVER, TWO WORLDS
76
Barakaldo. The industrial leader Sestao. The factory city Portugalete. Fusion of both sides of the river Getxo. The mansions of the industrialists
ASSESSMENT UNMISSABLE
ROUTE 12 km
106
PRACTICALINFORMATION
4 WALKS SHOWING THE Comparison between 1863 (before the emergence of extraction and production) and 1910.
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE OF THE ESTUARY OF BILBAO Walk 4
Walk 3
Industrial Bilbao is to iron as contemporary Bilbao is to the thousands of jobs related to knowledge and innovation
“
”
Walk 2
Walk 1
Comparison between Sestao and Portugalete in 1864 and 1962.
You are in a city that has been recognized internationally as an example of urban regeneration. In the last 20 years it has evolved dramatically from a worn-out industrial metropolitan model to a service-oriented urban setting with third generation companies. Under its skin lie the physical remains and soul of a city that iron turned into the most economically important of the Atlantic Arc (from Porto to Bordeaux) from the 18th century onwards. Like other cities in which vitality is a key factor to understanding it, Bilbao and its surroundings are like an onion with different layers; the best known are those spaces which are internationally renowned and the Old Quarter. Beneath that image, however, there are many others, and the one that brings out its most idiosyncratic side is that which arises out of its industrial character, in an enclave surrounded by iron mines that have been worked since Roman times. The high quality of its ore with little sulphur, low cost and proximity to a large port made it an excellent raw material for both the forges of Bizkaia and the Bessemer furnaces in the industrial revolution. This was a process of innovation which, from the mid-nineteenth century on, thanks to the accumulation of capital made in mining activities, led to the emergence of emporiums of steel, energy, finance, chemicals, commerce, shipyards, tools and teaching. It gave rise to an intensive industrial network that has continued to this day, although the most significant productive part disappeared in the 1980s and 1990s.
All of this provides a unique testimony of how the city and its surroundings ‘invented itself’ between the last third of the nineteenth century and first third of twentieth century, and provides clues which help us understand the process of ‘reinvention’ currently going on, based on the model of city that started in that economic and social explosion. In fact, the towns along the river saw their populations multiplied by four in just 40 years (1880-1920). On these walks, you will be able to observe the heritage of that time, with multifaceted renovations and remains, including proto-industrial, industrial, manufacturing and residential architecture, infrastructures and civil buildings and cultural facilities. The cultural concept of industrial heritage does not only refer to landmarks and buildings; it also covers all aspects of life around its ability to generate wealth. Along with physical remains of the industrial past, you will see areas away from the beaten tourist track which show to a great extent the essence of this city. In its most famous images there remains a memory and influence of the industry which was alive until 30 years ago and which has profoundly influenced the lifestyle of its inhabitants, its demographics, culture and social values. These walks do not cover all aspects of the city, or even its entire industrial heritage; they are comfortable, accessible trips, on foot or in easy public transport, which allow you to see a significant percentage of the most important features of this area. This material is complemented by the website which shows other graphic materials, links and data updates: bioiron.info
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND MERCHANDISE
ASSESSMENT
ROUTE 6.3 km
VERY INTERESTING
“So much Bilbao in the memory...” (Blas de Otero)
01_El Pontón 02_Along the Los Caños route to the Ribera Market 03_From the Area of the Mines to Harino Panadera 04_New Areas / Classical Ensanche / Old Quarter
Walk 1
Industry
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Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
01
EL PONTÓN
The walk begins at the old flour factory El Pontón (1). Only the bakery building remains and it has been converted into an ikastola (a school where classes are taught exclusively in Basque). It was built in 1793 to ensure the supply of flour to Bilbao and, with its layout and division of labour and work areas, is considered the first significant industrial building in the Basque Country. The fact that it looks like a monastery or a prison can attributed to both the lack of previous references and to the custom of setting new industries in buildings with a style which the inhabitants were familiar with. El Pontón nowaday.
10
The work is a building of Cultural Interest and is part of the neoclassical vanguard in Bizkaia. The building is a monumental cubic mass, with a four-pitched roof adapted to the slope of the terrain, with four floors on its south-eastern side and three on the other.
« The flour mill built by Eduardo Coste y Vildósola, located next to the ruined building of the bakery. Mineral kilns in the foreground. Early twentieth century.
02
ALONG THE LOS CAÑOS ROUTE TO THE RIBERA MARKET
End of the Los Caños walk with panels explaining the history of the area.
ROUTE 2 KM To get back to the historic centre of Bilbao, we suggest a walk along this romantic path, which carried the aqueduct supplying water to Bilbao from 1523 until it was closed in 1933. Along the way, it is possible to imagine the rushing water where the river narrows and swirls, and the human ingenuity that used mills to convert the water into a driving force for the pre-industrial businesses of the city (mills, foundries, fulling mills and glass and textile factories). Interestingly, neither this area nor the pre-industrial sectors located here played any part in the industrialisation of Bilbao and its surroundings. On the opposite bank you have a view of the La Peña/Abusu area that in its current state is the result of developmentalist architecture designed to accommodate the waves of immigrants who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s to meet the demand for industrial labour. As in this Old island of San Cristóbal, neighbourhood, they which disappeared after the generally settled in 1983 floods, and mines on the areas that had been slopes. 1930s. sparsely used until then. At the first curve of the river was the island of San Cristóbal, where originally there were tanneries, which were then replaced by a pumping station and a small hydroelectric power station. At the end of this section there are some panels explaining the history of this part of the river.
11
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE At the end of this walk you will see the old Ollerías school (2). Pedro Ispizua (1895-1976) Other works: • Garden City district (Ciudad Jardín) in Bilbao (1922). • Bandstand on the Arenal (1927). • Atxuri School (1928) (p. 13). • Ribera Market (1929) (p. 14). • Various houses in Bilbao. • Luis Briñas school (1933). • The Tiger building (1943-1947) (p. 36). • San Felicísimo church (1959).
12
Designed by Pedro Ispizua in 1922, it is a model of regionalist architecture. At the bottom of the hill there are two even more striking examples of the most famous architects of this era: Ispizua himself (García Rivero school) and Manuel María de Smith (Atxuri Station). At the bottom of this street on your right is La Encarnación square (3), where you will see the church and convent of that name. They date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the old convent now houses the Museum of Sacred Art of Bizkaia (www. eleizmuseoa.com). The square has been partly pedestrianised and has been turned into a very pleasant spot.
1910. Above the Los Canos walk and Atxuri was the mining area of El Morro mine, in operation until 1970.
Ollerías School.
La Encarnación Square.
The river full of iron ore wharves in 1890.
Manuel María de Smith (1879-1956) Other works: • Workers’ houses in Barakaldo (1916). • Coromina Industrial chemical factory (1923) (p. 41). • Hotel Carlton (1926) in the Plaza Moyúa. • Many grand houses in Getxo (p. 104). • The Sota Building. Bilbao (1924). • Offices of Altos Hornos steelworks (1911 and 1946) and La Naval.
ATXURI STATION Designed by Manuel María de Smith in the regionalist style (4), it was built in 1913 to replace the old terminal of 1882. It is the terminal station of two lines, leading to Durango/San Sebastián on one branch line and Gernika/ Bermeo on the other. At the entrance to the station, above the name of the former operator, Ferrocarriles Vascongados (Basque Railways), there is a set of shields combining the coat of arms of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, entwined with the arms of Alava and the chains from the coat of arms of Navarra. The neighbourhood where it is located, Atxuri (white rock in Basque), was a suburb beyond the city walls in medieval Bilbao.
Next to the station is the García Rivero Public School (5) also designed by Pedro Ispizua (p. 12) ) in the regionalist style in 1928. Opposite is the imposing building which was built in 1835 along neoclassical lines and which housed the Hospital of Bilbao until 1908 (6). It boasted the most advanced hygiene of the time and went by the motto “You who are sick and groan in poverty here shall find attentive care”. Since then, it has been used for the teaching of different specialties, cohabiting with the Museum of Fine Arts between 1914 and 1945.
Towers of the García Rivero School and Atxuri station. Both fall within the neoregionalist movement.
1930s. First Civil Hospital of Bilbao, later the School of Arts and Trades and the Fine Arts Museum.
13
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
LA RIBERA MARKET Continuing along the same street, we pass the Bridge of San Antón and its Church which was for centuries the entrance to the medieval city, and we found ourselves behind the Ribera Market (7). With 10,000 m2 dedicated to fresh produce, it is the largest covered market in Europe. It is also by Pedro Ispizua (p. 12), opened in 1929 and now recently restored. The project, which sought functionality, is based on open spaces without internal columns, with good ventilation to prevent undesirable smells and with careful natural lighting. Translucent materials are used to allow daylight to flood down from one floor to another and there are large windows, lattices and rosettes. All this, together with the decoration of its facades, forms an eclectic Art Deco style. The site it occupies was for centuries the heart of the town and came to replace the roadside stalls that sold produce to the citizens.
14
The Market can be visited during business hours.
03
FROM THE AREA OF THE MINES TO HARINO PANADERA
Old Market Square (1874).
(THE BEST CONSERVED INDUSTRIAL AREA) ROUTE 2 KM
THE DISTRICT OF THE MINES AND THE SAILORS This is the district located on the shore opposite the Ribera Market; it is known by the name of Old Bilbao (Bilbao La Vieja) to distinguish it from the historic Old Quarter (Casco Viejo), also called the Seven Streets (Siete Calles). In the Middle Ages, this is where the Castilian wool that was later sold in Bilbao was delivered (bear in mind that the original city was, exclusively, the historical centre behind you) dating from its recognition as a town in 1300. From the 17th century onwards, important iron mining groups coexisted here with residential suburbs, which meant significant levels of overcrowding and consequent serious health problems. You can see where the multicoloured facades and balconies that were sailors’ homes and the commercial premises of the original warehouses have been converted into shops and entertainment venues. We cross to this side of the river by the historic bridge of San Antón (next to the market by the church) to go in search of these mining memories.
15
1877, replacing the old medieval bridge with the current one.
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND Heritage MERCHANDISE Ricardo Bastida (1878 - 1953) In 1923 he proposed an expansion plan for Bilbao to the river mouth at the Abra, a visionary project that would result in the current metropolitan area. Other works:
“Casa-Cuna” Daycare House.
16
The kiln of the San Luis mine before restoration.
• Municipal wine warehouse (1909) (p. 21). • Indautxu, Ribera and Iturribide schools (1918). • Zakoneta Desinfection Centre (1918) (p. 52). • Torre Urizar Municipal Housing (1919-1922). • Central Secondary School (1927). • Deusto Bridge (1936) (p. 35). • Restoration of Santiago Cathedral (1952).
After crossing the bridge we are at the beginning of the street where you can see the old Bilbao “Casa cuna” Daycare House (8) of 1916, which answered the pressing social need for improved sanitation and hygiene. From a design by Ricardo Bastida, it has obvious reminiscences of Catalan Modernism. Above the doorway of the front door sits a sculpture of Charity, referring to the use of the building.
CALCINATION KILN FROM THE SAN LUIS MINE We continue walking down Claudio Gallastegui street and take the second turning on the right (Olano street). Here we find Saralegi square, where one of the many iron ore calcinations kilns of the area stands, imposing and restored (9). The mines were located in the 19th and 20th centuries in the nearby hills, and in these intermediate areas there were infrastructures for treating the ore before loading it onto barges that moved the cargo to larger vessels moored at the mouth of the river. This restored kiln was for the calcination of the extracted ore, to convert it into a purer product for transport and subsequent handling. The building belonged to the San Luis mine, which was abandoned in 1960 and which, along with Malaespera and La Abandonada mines on this hill, and the El Morro mine on the opposite side of the river, contained the largest and best iron deposits of the area after the mining enclaves of Ortuella, Sopuerta and Somorrostro.
San Luis mine (1965).
VANGUARD ARCHITECTURE We walk up Tres Pilares street along the side of the square to connect with San Francisco street and then walk down Conde Mirasol, street to the Muelle de la Merced. At No. 3 is old La Ceres flour factory (10). This was the first building in Spain to be built of reinforced concrete using the Hennebique system (1899-1900) and marks a technological milestone in Basque industrial architecture, which makes it a building of Cultural Interest. It was finished in 1900 and was built in a record time of 7 months by the young civil engineer Ramón Grotta and the architect Federico Ugalde (p. 28). Originally it had 6 floors; when it was restored, the facade was kept and the interior was converted into flats.
The Ceres building restored and converted into flats, with the deconsecrated church of La Merced in the background. « It was built in a single year.
Bodegas Bilbaínas Wine Warehouse building.
Continuing along the road, we pass in front of the historic church of La Merced, now deconsecrated and used for musical and artistic events. Before reaching Bailén street, on the right we can see another remarkable set of facades of residential buildings and offices facing the river. In Bailén street we turn left to rejoin San Francisco street. At the beginning of this section on the right hand side there is a long wall that hides the railway line. At the end of this wall, we see a street of agribusiness warehouses built between the 1930s and 1950s; they had a logistically unparalleled location for using the railway in their business operations. Their current state of dereliction will be changed by the final project for covering over the current shunting yard, but they are a remarkable set of facilities with high iconic value in what became one of the industrial areas with the most character in Bilbao. At the head of this street is the unique building of the Bodegas Bilbaínas Wine Warehouse (11), rebuilt in 1941.
Some of the warehouses on Particular del Norte street on the side facing the railway line.
17
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
A GREAT COMPANY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD When you reach Zabalburu square, walk up one of its side streets, Pedro Martínez Artola, to connect with the next street, Irala street. When you get to Reyes Católicos street, turn left. On the first corner of the street (Kirikiño) you will see a square with facades covered in murals. This point shows the widespread concept of ‘cheap houses’ both in the city and in Bizkaia. This was a style of building backed by many kinds of cooperatives and by companies themselves, who took advantage of the aid and beneficial concessions provided by laws in the early 20th century. You are in the city district of Irala (12), which is the area that has the most buildings of this type of architecture. In fact, these are houses built by the flour and breadmaking company Harino Panadera, founded by Juan José Irala, from whom the district gets its name. They are the work of Federico Ugalde (p. 28) between 1905 18 and 1917, and a satellite town was created with 565 houses in different styles (compact blocks of flats, terraced houses divided into flats, detached houses - single, double or quadruple). But they all had a very English style, with the principles of “sun, air and water”, in line with the hygienist movement in vogue in Europe which advocated offering healthy housing to employees and workers. At this junction between Kirikiño street and Reyes Católicos street you can see a detached house and terraced houses with facades that have been restored in many different colours. If you walk to the top of Kirikiño street and return to the same point by coming down Baiona street and Urizar street, you can see other types of building in this little district. We now head to the industrial heart of the neighbourhood. Returning to Irala street, we turn into Ugalde street and see the bullring below us. We take the first turning on the left and we find the finest restored industrial building in Bilbao: Harino Panadera (13). It is an old flour factory which closed in 1992, built entirely of concrete in 1901, another early application of this material. Of the stunning original manufacturing complex, only the flour factory building has stood the test of time (it was declared a Monumental Complex in 2005), as well as a spectacular display of historical machines inside the building, which currently houses municipal offices.
Different types of houses in the largest property boom of the period.
Historical furnishings inside the old factory, now converted into municipal offices.
Colourful facades of buildings with a clear English style.
19
Advertisement from 1918, in which the original factory complex can be seen.
Harino Panadera flour mill building.
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
Amézola park and residential area.
04
NEW AREAS/ CLASSICAL ENSANCHE/ OLD QUARTER ROUTE 2.3 KM
Below the Harino Panadera factory, you must walk through the new Amézola park and residential complex towards the Azkuna Centre - Alhóndiga (14); this is a cultural centre renovated by Philippe Stark in 2010 from an old wine warehouse designed by Ricardo Bastida (p. 16) between 1905 and 1909. As one of the icons of the new Bilbao, this is probably one of the essential sights of the city that you will already have seen. After visiting it, walk along Fernández del Campo street to Hurtado de Amézaga street. Along this route, on the corner of General Concha street, you will see a building that is the current headquarters of the energy company EDP. Completely renovated inside, it has kept the facade of its original occupant: the Vizcaíno Pharmaceutical Centre (15). Built in 1926 by architect Tomás Bilbao and Hilario Imaz, it initially had 2 floors which were extended to 7 current ones in the 1940s. Set up by Bizkaian pharmacists, it centralised the distribution of medicine. Of special interest on the building are the original stone signs with the company name in both streets.
20
You are in the middle of the Ensanche, the enlargement of the original city. It is one of the most interesting in Spain; in fact, it has lasted perfectly throughout the 20th century and as such, it is often said to be the best architectural work in Bilbao. Severino Achúcarro (p. 25), Pablo Alzola (p. 28) and Ernesto Hoffmeyer designed it in 1876, and this first extension presents an interesting layout, with the Gran Vía as the main artery forming a longitudinal axis which leads to the Casco Viejo via the Arenal bridge, punctuated by three squares (the Plaza Circular, the Plaza Elíptica and the Plaza de Sagrado Corazón).
Vizcaíno Pharmaceutical Centre.
The building of the Ensanche area in Abando was a process that was delayed for decades, which meant they were able to learn from the example of Ildefonso Cerdá in Barcelona, with its layout and its street blocks with bevelled finishing. It was the response to new needs arising from the fact that the population had tripled in just 20 years and the Casco Viejo old quarter was insufficient to house them. With its construction, Bilbao definitively jumped onto the left bank of the river and developed what is now considered to be the centre of the city.
21
Atrium of the Azkuna Centre Alh贸ndiga now and a photo of the interior in 1932.
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
FROM HURTADO DE AMEZAGA TO THE ARENAL We walk down Fernández del Campo street to Hurtado Amézaga street. Walking down to the Plaza Circular, you will see the start of the forecourt of Abando railway station. Right on the corner of García Salazar street the Izarra locomotive is on display (16), a jewel in the railway heritage crown, as it was one of the first locomotives to come to Bilbao in 1863. Before going down to the Plaza Circular, we recommend walking along Bertendona street to look at the magnificent modernist facade of the Campos Elíseos theatre (17). Opened in 1902, it was the result of collaboration between architect 22 Alfredo Acebal and the French designer Jean Batiste Darroquy. The decor and forms of its facade made people call it “The Chocolate Box”.
Jean Batiste Darroquy Major French architect involved in the introduction of modernism to the Basque Country between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Other works: • Montero House (1904).
The Campos Elíseos Theatre in 1902. It is one of the best examples of modernist architecture.
The Izarra railway engine, one of the locomotives that brought the first train to Bilbao in 1863.
In the Plaza Circular, we see the BBVA tower (18). 88 m high, in 1969 it replaced the former headquarters building of the Bank of Vizcaya, which merged with the Bank of Bilbao to make the current international bank. Next to the station is the building that now houses the tourist office (19). It was the work of Severino Achúcarro (p. 25), and opened in 1893 as a Hotel that was linked by a direct walkway to the station. In 1949 it became a bank office prior to its current use.
Replacement of the former headquarters of the Bank of Vizcaya with the modern tower block. 1968. Hotel Terminus (now the tourist office) and the old Abando station. 1920.
23
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE In the Plaza Circular is the access to Abando station (20). In 1948, the current station replaced the previous one, which had been built in 1864. The main facade avoids railway themes, presenting a monumental, classical image with an eclectic mix of pediments, blind arches or false pillars, which harmonized with the surrounding buildings. Once inside, go to the upper level to look at the large stained-glass window that welcomes travellers arriving in the city. Back in the lower central hall, turn right and go out and down the stairs at the back of the station, and here you will be able to cross to the back entrance of the other, almost adjoining, station.
Abando station. 1864. 24
301-piece stained glass window from 1948 in the upper level of Abando station. It shows mining, industry and local customs from Bizkaia’s past.
Between the two stations you will find the building of the Stock Exchange by Enrique Epalza (p. 28),from 1905. The Santander station, also known as La Concordia (21), is the station for the narrow gauge railways (FEVE) connecting Bilbao with other capitals on the Cantabrian coast and the north of the peninsula, in the latter case taking advantage of the train line that brought coal from inland mining areas to the Bizkaia steelworks.
This is an interesting point regarding practices at that time; the processing companies were usually located in the coalfields and not the iron mines because of the relative cost of transport between the two materials. In Bilbao, it was exactly the opposite, because they had the raw material iron next to a river, estuary and a port with superb natural shelter. The station is modernist in style and was designed in 1902 by Severino Achúcarro. In the inner atrium we can see the application of new construction technologies with the use of steel. When you go out into Bailén street, you can see the facade with its large rose window, which is considered one of the most genuine legacies of the Belle Epoque.
Severino Achúcarro (1841-1910) Major figure in Basque architecture in its evolution towards modernism and art nouveau. Other works: • Bidebarrieta Library, originally the liberal club El Sitio (1890). • Co-author of the Bilbao Ensanche expansion Plan (1876). • Bank of Bilbao building in San Nicolás (1898) (p. 29).
25
Facade and interior of the station (in riveted steel) of La Concordia.
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND
Heritage MERCHANDISE
26
The Bailén skyscraper tops things off with an imposing facade of office buildings.
Banks of the river in the 1920s, with the La Bilbaína club and the wooden entrance to the old train station to Portugalete (by Pablo Alzola, p. 28). The high density of ships is due to the fact that Bilbao was a working port until the 1970s.
Outside the station, we can see the skyscraper that stands on the other side of Bailén street facing the river (22). By Manuel Galíndez, at 43 metres tall it was the tallest building in Bilbao from its construction in 1943 until 1969, when the BBVA skyscraper in the Plaza Circular was built. On the corner of Navarra street is the building that houses the La Bilbaína Social Club (23). Both because of its appearance and its function, it is another expression of the effect that English society had on society in Bilbao; a relationship backed by intense business contacts that means that Bilbao, even today, is considered the city with the most British air in Spain.
The building of La Bilbaína erected in 1913 was the work of Emiliano Amann and is the second headquarters of a club created in 1839. Since then it has opened its doors to high society celebrations and events of the city and surrounding areas. Apart from other facilities for members, of interest are its historical collections of newspapers and magazines and its library, its period furniture and its chess room, which is now considered the oldest in Europe. In style, the inside of the building follows the English architecture of such clubs, with a spiral entry staircase, topped by a skylight above, resting on columns.
Emiliano Amann (1882 - 1942) Other works: • Abra Sailing Club, Getxo (1909). • Nuestra Señora del Carmen church in Neguri (1910) Getxo. • Building of La Comercial at Deusto University (1921) (p. 34). • Solokoetxe lift (1931). • Group of council houses Solokoetxe II (1933). • Salesiano school in Deusto (1939).
Manuel Galíndez (1892-1980) One of the major figures of the rationalist movement. Some works: • Bank of Vizcaya in Barcelona and Madrid (1930). • La Equitativa building. Bilbao (1934). • La Aurora insurance building. Bilbao (1935). • Bailén skyscraper (1940). • Aznar shipbuilders building. Bilbao (1943). • Houses in Getxo (1945).
27
Industry
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND Heritage MERCHANDISE
1895. The old Isabel II Bridge and the Arriaga theatre. Note the ‘blood tram’, so-called because it was pulled by horses.
Just over the Arenal bridge, you will see on your right the famous Arriaga Theatre (24), which opened in 1890. It was designed by the architect Joaquín de Rucoba (architect also of the City Hall) and replaced an earlier one that had stood there since 1833. Inspired by the Paris Opera House and other central European theatres, it happens to have a curved facade not only because of neo-baroque aesthetics, but also to solve an urban planning hygiene concern about the end of Bidebarrieta street, which it is aligned with. After a fire in 1914, it was rebuilt by architect Federico de Ugalde, with a project that made it bigger and safer. Passing through the Arenal gardens, you see the bandstand (25), designed by Pedro Izpizua (p.12) in 1923. This highly expressive construction is made up of the space devoted to the music stage above and the bar that is located underneath.
28 Federico de Ugalde (1873 - 1968)
Enrique Epalza y Chafreau (1860 - 1933)
Pioneering architect in the use of reinforced concrete.
Some works:
Some works: • La Ceres building (1900) (p. 17). • Second Ensanche project (1905). • Irala-Barri district (1905-1917) (p. 18). • Reconstruction of the Arriaga Theatre (1919). • Molinos Vascos building (1920) (p. 48).
• Vista Alegre Cemetery (1896- 1899). • Basurto Hospital (1898-1908) (p. 51). • Building at Uribitarte, No.3 (1902). When he was the municipal architect (1896-1903), he wrote the first Project to extend the Ensanche (along with Alzola and Hoffmeyer), which was not carried out.
Pablo Alzola (1841-1912) Other works: • First Ensanche Project (1876). • La Orconera Mining Railway (1876)(p. 63). • New San Antón bridge (1877) (p. 15). Bilbao and Portugalete stations and the lines between the two urban areas (1888) (p. 95).
Before visiting the attractions of the Old Quarter (also known as the Seven Streets, as this is the number of roads that the original, small Bilbao had), and once you have crossed the Arenal gardens (the name ‘arenal’ referred to the sand on what was once a beach in the medieval Bilbao), walk to the side of St. Nicholas’ church and stop in front of the original building of the Bank of Bilbao (26), one of the two parent companies of the merger with the Bank of Vizcaya and later with Argentaria to form the international financial entity BBVA. Although the Bank of Bilbao began operating in 1857, this office was opened in 1868; designed by the French architect Lavalle, it was expanded two decades later in two phases by Enrique Epalza and Severino de Achúcarro (p.25). It has a magnificent banking hall accessible when there are exhibitions open to the public; the facade presents an eclectic exercise in the “Beaux Arts” style and has a neoclassical compositional touch. Today it remains the headquarters of the BBVA and banking operations were only moved in 1957 to the magnificent building at Gran Vía 12. And now to enjoy the attractions of the Casco Viejo old quarter, which probably appear in any other publication.
29
Walk 2
INDUSTRY AND RIVER * IN THE BOTXO *Popular name by which the City of Bilbao is known, because of its position in a ‘hole’, surrounded by mountains.
ASSESSMENT
ROUTE 8.4 km
INTERESTING
“O Mines, which have made the River! O River, which has made Bilbao!” (Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui)
01_From the temple of knowledge to the old shipyards 02_Industrial architecture of the twentieth century 03_Back to Bilbao
Walk 2
Industry
INDUSTRY AND RIVER Heritage IN THE BOTXO
Alto o de d Enekuri eku kuri ri
HOW TO GET THERE
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01
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FROM THE TEMPLE OF KNOWLEDGE TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS ROUTE 1.4 KM
Deusto University in 1920.
DEUSTO UNIVERSITY One of the most urgent needs arising from industrialization was the need to educate managers. Inaugurated in 1886, the Universidad of Deusto (1) was the answer to this demand. Run by the Jesuits, one of the faculties with the highest profile is the Business School, which was founded in 1916. The first graduates from this part of the university were ahead their time, as it was not possible to study Economics in the rest of Spain for another twenty-five years.
The Deusto Library next to the auditorium of the Public University.
La Cava Houses and the side of the University.
It is made up of several buildings, from the oldest, known as La Literaria (by José María Basterra and the Marquis of Cubas), where law studies are taught, to the newest, the library, which opened in 2009. Designed by Rafael Moneo, it is located next to the Guggenheim and is across the street from the auditorium of the UPV-EHU (the Basque public university), designed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza. Both architects have won the Pritzker Prize. Next to Deusto University, you can see two houses known as the La Cava (2). Built in 1869 on a family estate, they perfectly illustrate the movement of the upper classes from the chokedup Old Quarter to the banks of the river before making the leap to Neguri (p. 102).
Both Deusto Bridge and the City Hall Bridge were inspired by the Michigan Avenue bascule bridge in Chicago (1920).
UNITING RIVERBANKS: DEUSTO BRIDGE In December 1936, the bascule bridge which had been commissioned five years before was inaugurated; it was designed by engineers Ignacio de Rotaeche and José Ortiz de Artiñano with the municipal architect Ricardo Bastida (p. 16). This bridge (3) and the bridge at the City Hall provided a response to the need to unite the historic centre of the town with the new urban developments in the neighbourhoods of Deusto, Begoña and Abando. The river traffic, fundamental for the dockwork which was done here at that time until its transfer to the outer harbour of El Abra, conditioned the design of such bridges to allow the passage of ships.
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1968. Here you can see the logging company that occupied the current site of the Guggenheim, the Euskalduna shipyards, one of the bridgeheads of Deusto bridge and the port area with its sheds and infrastructure.
Rebuilt after its destruction in the Civil War (1937), it was renovated in 1974. The opening of the leaves was one of the iconic sights of Bilbao until 1995; now, however, it only opens for very special city celebrations. The total length of the bridge is 500 m with a span of 48 m narrowing the channel of the river, which at this point is 71 m, with concrete buildings on each side where the lifting machinery is located. The leaves swing open to an angle of 70°. It has 27 bays, 11 of which cross the river.
The GOBELA barge passes under Deusto bridge in the 1960s. These were vessels for the transport of waste out to sea, including the waste collected by dredges.
Industry
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INDUSTRY AND RIVER Heritage IN THE BOTXO
THE ROAR OF THE TIGER Walking along the Abandoibarra riverwalk towards the Euskalduna Palace, we see a building topped by a large sculpture of a tiger on the opposite bank (4).
The Tiger building, a transmission belt company.
The industrial building, designed by Pedro Ispizua (p. 12) in 1940, housed the factory, office and showroom of the Muñoz Mendizabal company which manufactured transmission belts. In 1942 the sculptor Joaquín Lucarini was commissioned to make the sculpture of the tiger, which is 9 m long. It was the icon chosen to project the image of powerful transmission belts which would resist any force. Some say that the owner had an argument with local business people and avenged himself by crowning his factory with a beast that “roars” day and night, looking towards Indautxu, the place where many who despised the humble origins of the owner of this factory lived. After restoration work which maintained its exterior, the building now houses luxury flats.
THE EMBLEMATIC SHIPYARD OF BILBAO Following the course of the river is the Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall (5). Its name comes from the name of the shipyard which stood here before; it opened in 1900 and closed in 1985.
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The Euskalduna shipyard was located on land occupied by a previous shipyard, the Compañía de Diques Secos, founded in 1868. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the first iron and steam boats in the Basque Country left its dry docks. The 2 dry docks and the slipway where the Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall now stands (1966).
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Fusion between the current Conference Centre, built in 1999, (work of Federico Soriano and Dolores Palacios with shapes that recall the keel of a ship made of corten steel) and the Maritime Museum with the slipways of the Diques Secos company (1911), the forerunner of Euskalduna.
From 1925 on, through new facilities in the neighbouring area of Olabeaga in the nearby valley of Asúa and in Madrid, it used its metalworking expertise and complete installations (from casting to final assembly) to produce, more sporadically, goods such as railway machinery, automobiles, bridges and boilers. Of the old premises, which occupied 90,000 m2, the only things that remain are the Pump House at the bottom, the crane known as Carola as a tribute to the hundreds of cranes that stood upon this coastal landscape of the town not too long ago and finally, two of its dry docks with caisson lock gates. Some boats owned by the Maritime Museum are housed in dock number 2. The Pump House was built in 1903. It was a pioneering building for its time because of the use of reinforced concrete beams, allowing it to have a spacious interior without any columns in the middle. Its function was to house the pumps (it moved 9,000 m3/hour) for pumping out water and keeping the docks dry.
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The Pump House and the Carola crane as the shipyard is being dismantled and after its restoration. The crane, built in 1957, was the most powerful -30 Tn- in Spain.
The original motors of the Pump House.
Of the original three dry docks, only 2 and 3 have been preserved. Dry dock no. 2 was part of the infrastructure of the previous company, Diques Secos; it was used to repair and clean ships’ hulls. Built in 1868, it was expanded in 1902 by the engineer Recaredo Uhagón (also responsible for the first Sanitation Plan for Bilbao) to increase its capacity. It is a dry dock which is 121 m long, with hydraulic brickwork walls crowned with masonry. Around the same time as dock no. 2 was extended, a third dock was built, also designed by Uhagón. It had a capacity of 11,000 tons (three times dry dock no. 2).
Construction and launch of the ship the Fernando Poo in 1935. 39 Aerial view and launch in 1974. These acts were a social event.
Two simulations of the new development in this area in the Zaha Hadid project. The current peninsula will become an island, and the new buildings will provide relief for the constant lack of space in the ‘botxo’ or ‘hole’. Deusto canal in 1970.
02
INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
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ROUTE 3 KM From here, the walk will show you factories and warehouses with 2 optional routes: 1) Continue along this bank beside the river. The route runs mostly on a pedestrian path. You will have a view with greater perspective and less detail, but it will allow you to return to Bilbao by an alternative route. 2) Walk along the opposite bank of the river. You will see the buildings in much greater detail, but you will have to retrace your steps to return to Bilbao. View of the emblematic loading platform of Olabeaga, demolished in the 90s.
To follow this guide, take route 1 from the Maritime Museum (www. museomaritimobilbao.eus). This museum keeps some of its exhibits in the old dry dock no. 2 and, inside the museum, the displays show the close relationship of the city with the sea over the centuries.
We walk to the neighbourhood of Olabeaga. This is an enclave where most of its inhabitants had jobs related to sea (in shipbuilding, as sailors or as stevedores). Today, all the landing bays and infrastructures devoted to these tasks have gone. The main historical elements are on the opposite shore. This was the Ribera de Deusto riverside neighbourhood until a huge canal was opened in the 1960s at the rear of the warehouses and flats. This left the area an isthmus and it will end up becoming an island. This is where Bilbao’s next big project for the 21st century will be located, turning it into a residential area and home to companies with high added value and social facilities and keeping the most emblematic old industrial buildings, in a plan designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, Right now it is mostly a collection of buildings in decay, ruins or mere empty sites where buildings have been demolished. In this phase of the future redevelopment of the area, the neighbourhood known as the Ribera de Deusto hosts activities and art projects
based in many of the factories that are still standing. Once you have passed Olabeaga, take the riverside path that connects it to the district of Zorroza.
COROMINA INDUSTRIAL We see the first reference on the right bank, about halfway along the path from Olabeaga. It is the Coromina Industrial factory (6) built in 1923. Of the 8 factory buildings which it once had, only the front building that housed the gatehouse, offices and stables remains. The elegant frieze of the facade was designed by architect Manuel Mª Smith (p.13). It is a single block with a gatehouse, housing for the manager on the first floor and workshops around a rectangular courtyard made of brick, plaster and tiles with secessionist stylistic references. Dedicated to the production of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, it was active until 1983, when it was damaged by the torrential rains. It now belongs to the mooring chains company Vicinay.
As in other cases, access to the old factory looked like a house that was “clean, human and close to aesthetic residential uses” to minimize the aggressive activity of the manufacturing.
Madaleno Palace (1898), residence of the owner of the Aurrera company in Sestao. One of the few remaining examples of the mansions built by wealthy families fleeing the congested historic quarter, before moving to Neguri.
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INDUSTRY AND RIVER Heritage IN THE BOTXO
The sales entry to the factory was through the building known as “the church”.
ARTIACH When we have left Olabeaga, 300 metres further on we see the important complex of Artiach Biscuits (7), consisting of 3 buildings. Although the factory was located here since 1921 and was the first building in the state designed to accommodate a biscuit factory, a fire in 1931 made it necessary to build a new factory. The most interesting part is the initial block built in 1937 in the classical style, also known as “the church” because of its Tuscan columns, arches and heavy wooden door welcoming people in. The first two floors, finished in a classical style, contrast with the austere, conventional modern style of the upper floors built in 1965. It is protected and separated from adjacent buildings by walls that form a small square in front of the factory entrance. The large elongated factory, at right angles to the river, has a predominantly blind facade but is enlivened by the 96 tiny windows on each of its four floors.
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The original factory building has 96 small windows on each of its 4 floors. You can still see the company logo on the side and one of its brands on the front overlooking the river.
The 3 buildings that made up the Artiach factory complex with 2 residential buildings forming part of the side overlooking the river
Both buildings were designed by engineer José Artiach Gárate, as a member of the family of owners. On the opposite side is an extension from modern times (the 1950s), a building faced with red brick and topped by a prominent tower. As many as 800 people worked here in the 1970s, of which 600 were women known by the nickname of “galleteras” or “biscuit makers”. In this place, a pleasant smell of cinnamon filled the air over other more typical industrial odours. With the floods of 1983, the company went on to move its manufacturing to a new plant located in the interior of Bizkaia, leaving this building divided into workshops and various companies. In the redevelopment of the area, this complex is expected to be kept as a Cultural Centre.
WATER TANK OF THE TUGBOATS IBAIZABAL COMPANY Located on this side of the river, the reservoir for drinking water called Urgozo (8) accumulated 1,800 m3 from a nearby spring which, initially, were collected in the gallery of an old copper mine. Built in 1921 to designs by Gregorio Ibarreche, it facilitated supplies of fresh water to ships that required it, using the cistern tugboat Auntz, now exhibited in the dry dock at the Maritime Museum. From its initial buildings, the house and warehouse next to it have disappeared, demolished in the 1990s when they had served their purpose.
Water tank seen from the bank opposite the recommended walk.
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The “biscuit makers” were one of the greatest symbols of the industrial fabric of this area of Bilbao. Naïve painting of the factory before the fire of 1931.
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INDUSTRY AND RIVER Heritage IN THE BOTXO
The Beta building. Facade and rear extension.
BETA BUILDING Inserted (9) into the row of houses and factories, this 1952 building will be preserved in the plan to remodel the area to house the Centre for Applied Mathematics. Until its transfer to another town in Bizkaia, the company was engaged in cold metal stamping in this building, which consists of a ground floor and two upper floors for production, with another upstairs floor with housing. It is defined by with the prominent corner tower containing the staircase and a remarkable unevenly laid out rear extension.
CROMODURO You may not find any remains of this company by the time you do this walk (10). Today, the only part still standing is the gatehouse and, separated by a plot of land, the skeleton of the former offices of the company, which produced plastics. The gatehouse was in fact part of a wood company that was designed by Manuel Galíndez (p. 27) at the beginning of the century and it uses this material extensively in this building, as he would do in the Maderas Españolas building (p. 46) 800 m further on, which is much better preserved.
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The old offices, in operation until 2010, were the work of Juan de Madariaga in 1969. They were part of a new concept of industrial architecture which emerged around 1970. It was a very impressive two-floor building. Supported by a metal frame with two powerful structural lines for the main roof frame and the roof, the front facade is inserted, between them, less visible and totally made of glass. This is a style that is highlighted on the outside sign, which is interesting for its font. The office building when the company was still active in 2005.
The gatehouse and office building of Cromoduro in its current state of neglect.
LANCOR AND CONSONNI These are two different ways of understanding the architecture of the 1950s (11). Although they are next to each other, first we see the building of Termoelectricidad Consonni, where resistors were produced. This is a beautiful factory building, built in 1957 and finished on the ground floor and two upper floors with a neat, elongated, elegant glass front that dominates almost all of its facade. It is being considered as a future Museum of Technology and Industry to hold all the major industrial collections in Bizkaia. Separated by a narrow yard with a distinctive factory air to it was Elorriaga Industrias Eléctricas (Lancor). This was a production complex built in 1958 with a vertical style of ground floor and four upper floors of reinforced concrete covered with dark brown brick, with a very balanced proportion of windows and walls, in which the stairwell of the facade is an iconic element. It was abandoned in 2000.
Photo from 1927. The Ribera de Deusto riverside area has been, is and will always be an area where houses and businesses coexist side by side. 45
Current state of the MEFESA facilities (marked by a diamond logo). You can already see the new buildings of companies that are beginning to emerge from the ruins of other industrial times. The green building in the background is the headquarters of the engineering multinational IDOM.
MEFESA One hundred metres further on we see the last industrial complex visible from the shore we are walking along (12). This is the metallurgical company MEFESA, an industrial complex overlooking the river where you can still see the office building designed by Luis Mª Gana in 1962.
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It is very interesting for its spatial organization, with its three floors that have a rhythm of windows between remarkably expressive concrete frames and the front, which is covered with glazed cladding. It is a remarkable composition that fitted in with the stylistic criteria of the moment, an opening onto the international vanguard, and with the factory building at the end as powerful industrial testimony. With the diamond-shaped logo on the office building, the laboratories and chemical processing tower, which is very high, it was destined to become “an architectural landmark.” It is difficult to see from the left bank, as it is about 300 m further on from MEFESA and from the river it is hidden behind a hedge; this building was the gatehouse and offices of the defunct company Maderas Españolas (13) (1939-1980), currently owned by Matricería Nervión. Built in 1943, it is another building by Manuel Galíndez (p. 27) with similar characteristics, sector and function as the existing Cromoduro. Its rural architecture in the neo-Basque style or the details of hearts on the shutters uses wood to symbolize the company product and to link it to the craftsmanship of the company.
Its inner set of tanks and hoists for treating the metal make it simply “a building-machine, an industrial sculpture”. On our walk along the Alfonso Churruca quay you can see the remains of old loading bays and some explanatory panels about the area and its industrial facilities. But nearing the end of the pedestrian route and going round the first industrial facility we approach what is the jewel of this walk: the abandoned Molinos Vascos mill building.
Drawing of the power plant in1894.
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ELECTRA DEL NERVIÓN Before the flour mill we can see some industrial facilities surrounded by galvanized tin sheeting. They occupy the buildings of what used to be Electra del Nervión (14), the first electricity power plant in Bilbao, which was founded in 1894 and brought electricity to all the towns on both sides of the river. Under its nondescript fencing are the original facilities that can still be seen; the halls and deep hollow spaces within, with their semicircular arches and brickwork friezes. The surviving factory buildings are among the oldest industrial buildings on the river in Bilbao and one of the few examples of ‘cathedral factories’ left standing. It originally occupied 3 halls, a boiler building with a chimney 63 m high, now demolished, and a transformer room.
Current view of the old Electra del Nervión and Molinos Vascos. In the case of the power plant, the tin sheeting still lets you see the shapes of the various original buildings.
View of the area in the 1950s where loading platforms and towers for mining trams can be seen.
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48
MOLINOS VASCOS Almost immediately after this we find Molinos Vascos (15). The work of Federico Ugalde (p. 28) in 1924 following the aesthetics of neo-Basque architecture, it was the second building built of concrete in Bilbao after another flour factory: La Ceres (p. 17). The main building consists of two wings at right angles to each other and occupies about 1,000 m2 of ground, of which 600 is the warehouse and the rest are the silos. The main facade faces the river and runs parallel to the loading quay and the old railway tracks. The part used as the warehouse has five floors with large open spaces topped by a roof in the neo-Basque style that makes the building unmistakable. But the most distinctive feature of this construction are the 15 enormous silos measuring 22 metres, each capable of storing up to 75 tons of grain.
Interestingly, the flour factory was only in operation for 5 years, as it coincided with a time of poor grain harvests and the crash of 1929. Until its final abandonment as shown in its present form, the building was used as a warehouse. In the construction of the factory, several premises of the former Royal Shipyard of Zorroza were reused. This was one of the largest shipyards on the Cantabrian coast, and it had been in operation since 1615. From that early use as a shipbuilding factory, the building called La Cordelería is preserved, a late seventeenth building where the rope for ships’ rigging was made by twisting and spinning hemp. Today you can see the few remains of one the ends of the building, but the original building was over 400 metres long over 2 floors and was used for spinning and braiding hemp rigging for ships. 49
View of the back with the silos, with the end of the old ropeworks.
The building behind Molinos Vascos is the section that remains of the old ropeworks of the Royal Shipyard of Zorroza. The building is about 400 metres long, as shown in a drawing of the period.
Iron Bridge (16) by Pablo Alzola (p. 28), built in 1888 for the Bilbao-Portugalete railway (designated as being of Cultural Interest). It crosses the Cadagua river with a span of 65 metres without intermediate supports. Today, it still has one of the 2 caissons of the original bridge.
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03
BACK TO BILBAO ROUTE 4 KM
We can do this in 2 ways: 1) By public transport in Zorroza by taking the train (RENFE) or the buses that go to the city centre. 2) Walking back along the road on the wide pavement that runs parallel to the road and from which you can enjoy a view of the same route but higher up. With the height that the walk back gives us, we can see buildings from the road that are hardly noticeable from the level of the river.
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Tarabusi office building behind the city pound.
Neighbourhoods built at a time when laws made houses cheaper because of housing cooperatives or because companies built houses for their employees. These were then known as ‘cheap houses’. Firstly the neighbourhood of Santiago, built in 1924 by the Employees Cooperative of the Bilbao to Portugalete Railway; in the background, the Santa Ana estate by Ismael Gorostiza (p. 81) in 1931, which was promoted by a cooperative made up of employees of the Hospital and the Euskalduna shipyard.
TARABUSI This is the case with Tarabusi (17). This is a factory dating from 1945 which was a major production complex for electromechanical constructions and transformers. The only part that is left is this building at the end of the municipal pound. Previously, it housed the offices of the company and in the ambitious Remodelling Plan for the area it is expected to be used for the work of a foundation dedicated to the study of cities. If you have made the return journey by bus or walking, you will enter Bilbao through the neighbourhood and hospital of Basurto. Shortly before reaching the hospital, on the other side of the road you can see two rows of council houses called “cheap houses” (18). Although on walks 1 and 4 there are other examples of this type of residential architecture, if you have the opportunity to get closer you will see how their design reflects the three-fold principles of the hygienist movement in the early twentieth century for workers’ homes: sun, air and water.
View of the hospital buildings with their gardens and characteristic tiled roofs.
BASURTO HOSPITAL At the Hospital (19), we urge you to enter the main gate to look at its landscaped garden areas and buildings that, although still evolving with the times, have kept their original style. Again we see a work that recalls English architecture of turn of the century, as a sign of the aesthetic inclination of this city towards British taste. The municipal architect Enrique Epalza (p. 28) with Dr. JosĂŠ Carrasco, director of the Atxuri Hospital and later Basurto, toured the most modern medical centres in Europe, and took as their model the management and design of the hospital of Ependorff in Hamburg, one of the most innovative of the time. It was begun in 1898 and completed 10 years later with 600 beds and it remains the main hospital of the city, substituting the old hospital in Atxuri (p. 13). The money to build the Hospital was raised through donations from the wealthy of Bizkaia. Their names can be seen on the stones that line the walls of the main entrance where, in many of them, they indicate the compensation for the contribution of the benefactor, for example, beds in perpetuity. We leave the hospital on Avenida Montevideo and continue until the street changes its name to AutonomĂa. This was an area of workshops and companies including most notably the Cervecera del Norte, demolished in 1995.
51 List of donations from wealthy Bilbao families at the main entrance of the hospital complex.
Industry
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INDUSTRY AND RIVER Heritage IN THE BOTXO
MUNICIPAL WORKSHOPS Upon reaching the crossroads at Sabino Arana, 200 metres to the right you will see the building dedicated to municipal warehouse (20). The construction from 1915 was designed for storing flammable and hazardous materials. Although you can see many decorative elements on the facade (pilasters, mouldings, railings), the whole building is made of reinforced concrete and the internal distribution is made up of numerous spaces divided by doors of thick steel that could prevent the possible spread of any fire to other areas of the building. Retracing our steps, we go down Sabino Arana to Zankoeta, the third street on the left. 52
ZANKOETA DISINFECTION CENTRE The old Disinfection Centre of the city has stood in this short street since 1918 (21). Located near the hospital, it was designed by Ricardo Bastida (p. 16); its appearance is influenced by Catalan modernism, with masterful use of brick and ceramics. Although today it is a district Civic Centre, its original function was to combat and contain epidemics that ravaged a city where many residents attracted by the industrial boom were subject to overcrowding and terrible sanitary conditions. Inside you can see numerous machines and objects related to its original function.
1927. Old Deposit for inflammable and dangerous materials, today the Municipal Workshops and in the near future a new police station.
1935. Ambulances in front of the Disinfection Centre.
THE ENGINEERING FACULTY Taking Luis Briñas street towards the river, we find the Faculty of Engineering (22) of the University of the Basque Country, next to the modern stadium of San Mamés. The Faculty was founded in 1899 and although it is composed of several buildings, the one next to San Mamés is from 1958, the work of Jesús Rafael Basterrechea and part of the modernist movement. Together with Deusto University, it is the great educational landmark of the city.
SANTA CASA DE LA MISERICORDIA As the final highlight of this tour, on the other side of the area where the Engineering Faculty is located, we can see the monumental late neoclassical building of the Santa Casa de la Misericordia (23) with its large romantic gardens which are open to the public. This was an entity dedicated to helping the poor. It was set up nearly 300 years ago and was the first social service that was built outside the boundaries of the Old Quarter, to be located in this building in 1872. In fact, its haste to install itself in this area made it a reference when designing the extension of the Ensanche, as its gardens became the outer limit of the Extension Plan.
Painting from 1900 where you can see the bulk of the Santa Casa de la Misericordia in the background in an area that was still sparsely built up.
The outline of the Faculty of Engineering, typical of the modernist movement of the mid-twentieth century, silhouetted against the contemporary architecture of San Mamés stadium.
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Walk 3
IRON: THE RED GOLD OF BIZKAIA
ASSESSMENT
ROUTE 9 km
UNMISSABLE
01_Larreineta funicular railway 02_La Arboleda - Zugaztieta 03_Miners and mines: the devoured mountain 04_Ortuella
“Red mines of my Bizkaia, you are a deep wound in the green mountain!” (Esteban Urquiaga, Lauaxeta) EXTENSIONS 1_Mining remains between Kobaron and Pobeña (10 Km) 2_El Pobal foundry (10 Km) 3_La Encartada textile factory (18 Km)
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GOLD OF BIZKAIA
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HOW TO GET THERE By train: Take a Renfe Cercanías train from Abando Station, line C2 to the Valley of Trápaga (Old name: San Salvador del Valle). Get off at: Valle de Trápaga - Trapagaran. 1km away from the funicular railway. By bus: Bizkaibus, A3336 and A3337 (Bilbao-Muskiz). Get on at: Hurtado de Amézaga (in front of Abando station). Get off at: Bus stop 4912 (in front of Trapagaran Town Hall). 300 m. from the funicular railway.
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EXTENSIONS
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GOLD OF BIZKAIA
MINES, MILLS AND MERCHANDISE
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With the intensive mining, both the landscape and the health of the inhabitants were severely affected. Since the time that the mines closed, significant efforts have been made to redirect living conditions in the area, as can be seen from the two pictures (1909 and now) of the Putxeta neighbourhood in the area of Abanto.
This route takes us to see the mining remains of the richest vein of iron ore in Europe; it was also the cheapest, because it was opencast. It was ore with very low phosphorus and with a high concentration of iron (there were different types, including ore known as ‘the vein’ or hematite, which was 60% iron, ‘campanil’ or goethite, which was 55% iron and ‘rubio’ or limonite, which was 53% iron). This was wealth that had been known about since ancient times, as shown by the Roman remains found in the area. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) talked about a mountain of iron. “In the part of Cantabria which is bathed by the sea there is a rugged high mountain made all of iron, an amazing and wonderful thing.” In the Middle Ages, a whole network of commercial routes built up around the ore, with iron sent to the rest of Europe through the monasteries, which helped shape the image of the ‘Biscay iron’ made in the foundries here. More intensive exploitation of the ore came from 1865 onwards, with exports targeted at Great Britain and its Bessemer converters. This invention had brought down the cost of steel production
greatly but it was a system that required low-phosphorus iron, which was scarce in Britain and abounded in Bizkaia, so foreign capitalists set their sights on the mountains of Triano, with its ideal raw material for this kind of furnace, its low costs and its ability to work opencast all the year round. The decline of this famous 25 km-long vein that juts out into the sea began when the richest seams were used up to feed the large steel mills along the Bilbao estuary. Competition then came from other types of ore following the invention of the SiemensMartin furnace system, which could already work with ore containing high levels of sulphur. Logically, this operation was labour-intensive and people began to come from neighbouring provinces to work in the mines, which ended up attracting thousands who wanted to get away from the impoverished world of farming. Using the funicular railway or driving up by car, we propose a visit to the mining areas and the towns and neighbourhoods created around them. It was an economic activity that marked an era and turned Bizkaia into the most prosperous of all the areas on the Atlantic coast.
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LARREINETA FUNICULAR RAILWAY
The funicular railway opened in 1926 (1) after 5 years under construction, and it runs from the La Escontrilla neighbourhood in the Valley of Trápaga to Larreineta every half an hour. It is the work of the Provincial Council engineer Francisco Guinea. The journey, at 2 m/s, takes just 10 minutes; it is 1,200 m long, rising to a height of 342 m on an incline of 35%. You will see great panoramic views of the valleys that lead down to the river and the port of El Abra. Originally its purpose was to transport miners and mine trucks, as access to the top of the mountain was very difficult because of the rugged terrain. The funicular also has a peculiarity that makes it stand out over other cable railways of the period: the line curves to the right to reach the upper station, a characteristic not shared by many other cable railways. Other features include a gauge of 1,200 mm and the fact that the carriages are removable. The carriage bodies are positioned horizontally on platforms, and as the two stations on the line have overhead cranes, they can be removed easily. As a result, the platform can be left empty, which in the past made it possible to transport vehicles of all types, with a maximum load of 9.5 tons. In fact, because of the poor access road to Larreineta, this service was used daily by delivery trucks, fishmongers, charcoal sellers and even the hearse. Used before by over a million passengers every year, today this has fallen to a third of that figure. The line was renovated in 1985 and until 15 years ago, was the longest in the state. Its two stations are a good example of regionalist architecture in the neo-Basque style, designed by Diego de Basterra.
From top to bottom: The ‘Funi’ without its carriages in 1926; the carriages in operation until the 1990s and the modern train managed nowadays by the public company Eusko Tren.
Diego de Basterra y Berastegui (1883-1959) Other works: • Institute and School of the Chamber of Commerce in Bilbao. With Ricardo Bastida (1927). • Elejabeitia house. Deusto, Bilbao (1933). • Provincial Institute of Hygiene. Bilbao (1934). • Several schools in Bilbao (until 1936).
Despite successive renovations, the original 1926 equipment built by the Swiss company Brown Boveri still works.
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GOLD OF BIZKAIA
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LA ARBOLEDA ZUGAZTIETA ROUTE 1.3 KM
From Larreineta to La Arboleda there is a 1 km walk past fields and what are now lakes, which have formed as a result of the rising water level in the old open cast mines. They had curious names such as “Matamoros”, “Las Cármenes”, “El Negro”, “Elvira”, “La Parcocha”, “Los Alemanes”, “La Mamen”, “Cantera Macho” and “El Ostión”. This last one occupied the large space to the left of the road (2). A remarkable environmental job has been made of recovering the shattered landscape, and you can see the remains of the old mines as part of an illustrative, enjoyable walk through newly replanted trees and grass that now carpet the faces of the mine. It is a beautiful, harmonious combination of the mother rock, bared by mining, and the trees and shrubs that cling to the rocks with their roots.
View of the road linking Larreineta to the town of La Arboleda which can be seen in the background. To the left of the route, you can see the effect that the mining had on the landscape. This used to be El Ostión opencast mine. View of El Ostión mine in full operation in the early twentieth century. The area around La Arboleda has been transformed into a zone of environmental protection, with a collection of Corten steel sculptures.
La Arboleda, main square. On the left, the building which was the ‘casa del pueblo’ social club of the socialist party and trade union of 1888, built only 11 years after La Arboleda was founded.
In short, this is a cultural landscape which combines the remains of countless mining infrastructures embedded in a landscape of great environmental quality and biodiversity that is absolutely unique in the Basque Country. In this area there were hundreds of mines (292 in 1890) of all sizes, the most important of which were initially set up as joint ventures between local and foreign entrepreneurs: “The Orconera Iron Ore Cº Ltd.”, “The Bilbao River and Cantabrian Railway Cº Ltd.”, “Luchana Mining Cº Ltd.”, “Société Franco-Belge des mines de Somorrostro”, “J.B. Rochelt”, until it became known as “The California of Iron”. By the 1950s, the veins were nearly mined out; in 1963 the export of iron ore stopped, and the last mine in this area closed in 1986. Original miners’ huts from the first settlements of miners. A typical wood-panelled house in La Arboleda. They were buildings that were usually inhabited by one family, and in many cases people brought in extra money by taking in lodgers.
La Arboleda (3) was founded in 1877 to house the workers right next to the mines. They came from every corner of the Iberian Peninsula and lived in conditions that, even today, can be seen here in its houses, streets and landscape. It is the most representative display of mining life and, in its heyday became known by the nickname ‘El Dorado’. They were hard years, in which men, women and children worked in extreme conditions, living in overcrowded huts or tiny houses, and disease and death were the order of the day; in fact, at one point, life expectancy was only 20. The poor quality of life and unfavourable working conditions led to the creation and development of trade unions and anarchist, socialist and communist politics together with movements with Catholic roots, turning it into the cradle of the workers’ rights movement in Bizkaia. It was in La Arboleda that the first workers’ strikes started; they struck great fear into the Bilbao bourgeoisie and became long and bloody.
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The place is more reminiscent of a Welsh mining village than traditional towns of the area. You can still see houses with wooden walls which replaced huts full of bunk beds lit with carbide lamps where miners slept in a ‘warm bed’ shift system.
GOLD OF BIZKAIA
In fact, the disappearance of the huts was one of the main demands of the workers in the great strikes of 1890 and 1903. By 1911 most of the buildings were already stone, forming a motley neighbourhood where about 3,000 people lived. In 1913 the Catholic trade unionist Jacques Valdour described La Arboleda as “a village of small dirty, black houses, built hastily out of wood or brick or mud so light that sometimes the northern facade is protected with timber. Dirty alleys separate meagre, uncomfortable, dark and poorly maintained accommodation”.
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In 2012 one of these small houses (1880) in Ganerantz street was restored so that people can visit it and see the conditions of domestic life of the time. Reservations: meatzaldea.eus
Later, amenities were added that made this a settled place to live, including a hospital, schools, an asylum-hospice, a company store, a circle of Catholic workers, a ‘casa del pueblo’ (social club of the socialists), a Civil Guard barracks, a cinema and the parish church dedicated to San Salvador. The urban fabric started creating a grid pattern of streets around a central square. This square brought order to the village and was where such amenities as the parish church, the bandstand and the headquarters of the unions would be located. La Arboleda is a must for anyone interested in gastronomy because of its restaurants, where the ‘alubiada’ bean stew is the speciality of the area. Even with this attraction, today there are only about 16 restaurants out of the 24 bars there were in its heyday. From here you can extend your excursion by walking above the village to the Peñas Negras interpretation centre (about 2 km away) where you will find both mining remains and explanations of the natural surroundings. If you do not have enough time, we recommend that you keep to the proposed route.
La Arboleda miners’ hospital 1880-1896, now gone. The harsh working conditions were reflected by the existence of three miners’ hospitals. Although they were built by the major companies, workers were required to contribute 2% of their wages towards maintaining the hospitals.
This is a walk that leads us to Gallarta along a new road. In 6 km, we can see remains of the aerial tramways, digging machines, ventilation shafts for the mine galleries, huts, kilns...
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MINERS AND MINES: THE DEVOURED MOUNTAIN* ROUTE TO GALLARTA: 6 KM
Until the great mining era, the inhabitants of the valley of Somorrostro and Barakaldo combined agricultural work with extracting and hauling ore to the ports. Ownership of the Triano mountains until the late nineteenth century was in the hands of the seven councils of the Valley of Somorrostro, which distributed it for communal use (such as forests for wood used in foundries, homes, shipbuilding and construction).
Transportation and hauling systems were very disparate and each company had their own, without any collaboration between them, which also contributed to the enormous environmental damage. Line of buckets at the Chรกvarri mines (1883) and the Orconera cable railway connecting the calcining kilns to its own railway (1925).
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1887 watercolour of the neighbourhood around Arkotxa in which you can see various railways, the aerial tramway linking the Union and Amistosa mines and a cable railway.
*Texts: ezagutubarakaldo.net
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GOLD OF BIZKAIA Borers with a steam hammer. 1920.
The use of the mountains was unregulated, work was simply prohibited outside the summer months and the number of animals for haulage was limited. Until the nineteenth century, iron ore could be taken from the mountains without title deeds or any specific limitation. In order to extract the ore it was enough to place a cross made of stones on the ground, to show that the site was in operation. This was because the size of the seams was proportionate to the lack of consumption, and the metal had no appreciable value. Ore was mined as if one were chopping wood.
The mining laws of 1859 and 1868 allowed greater extension of mines and suppressed limits of ownership. Mines were demarcated, even when they were not mined, around the most important areas and the largest tracts of land ended up in the hands of the big companies.
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At the end of the Third Carlist War, in 1874, the real explosion in mining in the region occurred. The iron mines of Bizkaia and Cantabria brought in the latest technology and the best technicians and engineers of the time, with technologically pioneering infrastructure.
As with many other traditional activities, all that remains of the hard work of the mines are the popular games such as borer contests (borers were responsible for opening holes for inserting sticks of dynamite), which can still be seen in the village festivals of the area.
The mine was a new, unknown world, with new concepts and new jobs appearing; borers, ponymen, labourers, foremen, scalesmen, mine boys, company stores, guitars, bowling, country dances, mining accidents and strikes. The workday was not established in duration by any regulation. At the beginning, there were mines where people worked longer than from sunrise to sunset at the time of year with shorter days, and were only paid per day worked. The harsh conditions around the mines (the rise in cost of living, the compulsory purchase of commodities in company stores operated by the foremen, hours and safety conditions) meant that life expectancy for those born in this area did not exceed 20 in the late nineteenth century. This situation led to 30 partial strikes and 5 general strikes between 1890 and 1910. Among the achievements of this succession of revolts, the most important were the elimination of the system of canteens and the reduction of hours to 9.5 hours (the workday was not reduced to 8 hours until 1919).
The iron ore was found on the surface of the soil. The mining system was similar to that of a quarry, using explosives to separate great blocks of ore. After blasting, the ore was broken up with picks and hoes, removing the debris with rakes and baskets. They started by loading the material onto mules, which were then replaced by inclined plane cable railways (from 1867), aerial tramways (1872) and railways (1865), which would take the ore to the 23 loaders along the river. From 1895, the richest ore began to run out, so they started to reuse what had been discarded at first (known by the name of ‘txirta’). To do so, new devices were used and a final product with a higher level of iron was produced; washeries to take away clay and earth (in 1899, 17 washeries were recorded with 49 trommel washing drums) and calcining kilns to separate the ore from other rocks (in 1919 there were 45 fully operational kilns). As an example of how much was mined in these mountains, the Orconera Iron Ore CÂş Ltd., one of the main companies, exported more than 7 million tons during the last years of the 19th century (approximately 20% of the ore in the Bizkaia mining area). In 1894 alone, more than 1 million tons of ore were extracted, of which over 80% were exported abroad.
Photos of the 1910 strike, which lasted 70 days. Soldiers protecting a train belonging to the Orconera company, members of the strike committee and the evacuation of children from the mining area to Portugalete.
In these mines, one of the factors of great importance for the later economic development of Bizkaia was the difference between mine owners (mostly local) and leaseholders who worked them (usually foreign capital companies). Most of the capital accumulated by local land-owning families was destined for reinvestment in industrial infrastructures on the banks of the river.
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Industry IRON: THE RED Heritage
GOLD OF BIZKAIA
THE GREAT IRON MINE: CONCHA II OR BODOVALLE
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This walk ends at the enormous hole left by the last iron mine in operation: the Concha II mine (when it was operated by the Franco-Belga company) or Bodovalle (under the control of Agruminsa) (4). Its opening in 1960 marked the total displacement of the old town of Gallarta, and the town you can see today is almost entirely the result of this move. It was operated by the Altos Hornos de Vizcaya iron and steel company through its subsidiary Agruminsa until it closed in 1993 because it was not profitable. With 500 workers, in the 1970s it became the second largest iron mine in Europe. The mine you can see is 700m long, 350 m wide and 150 m deep. The bottom is 37 m below sea level, which explains the current flooding with the water that can be seen at the bottom. This is the result of having used up the iron ore on the surface, which meant that operating permits were obtained in 1984 for underground galleries stretching over 50 km below the surface. Inside, it contains great chambers as big as a cathedral. Next to the mine is the building of the old slaughterhouse, now the Mining Museum (5) (www.meatzaldea.eus) and its future extension next to with its spectacular balcony overlooking the mine pit. This Museum explains the use of iron in various historical periods but basically it focuses on explaining the items that were recovered when the mines were abandoned. It is worth looking at the model that explains the change of location of the town of Gallarta and its replacement by the Bodovalle mine, and the model which explains the profusion of individualized miners’ transports of all kinds allocated to each mining company, illustrating to a great extent the radical change in the landscape well beyond mining activities.
The Mining Museum, with its old building in the old slaughterhouse of Gallarta and the building work on its spectacular new extension overlooking the mine. 67
The old town of Gallarta was demolished in 1960 with dynamite to make way for the Concha II or Bodovalle mine.
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GOLD OF BIZKAIA
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ORTUELLA ROUTE: 2.5 KM
Take the road that goes downhill next to the Mining Museum. You walk through an area that has now been turned into an industrial estate, but which previously was full of the kilns, washeries and other mining facilities, and you reach Ortuella station, with its train line that runs down to Bilbao.
Ortuella was the main distribution centre of iron ore to the loaders along the river. There used to be 23 loaders, but only this one in Barakaldo belonging to the FrancoBelga company has been rebuilt.
Apold-Fleissner kiln opposite the Sagrada Familia station.
Ortuella was a crucial point in redirecting the ore to the many loading points along the river. Opposite the station, if you cross the railway lines, you can see a kiln (6) datado a mediados del s. XX. Pero el conjunto dating from the middle of the twentieth century. However, the most 68 interesting rehabilitated set of buildings is 1 km away, in the Granada industrial estate; two Apold-Fleissner kilns (7) converted into a centre for the interpretation of this technology and declared of Cultural Interest in 2008. Built in 1961 by the Franco-Belga company, they are formed of twin buildings which contain the kilns and a central structure attached to them. Moreover, there were metal stairs on the outside, allowing access to some floors from others and access to the different platforms, now gone. It was for calcining iron carbonate, in order to achieve higher grade ore. The ore was transformed using hot air at 800°C, blown directly in by blowers at half height, and its construction was inspired by Austrian and Italian models, adapted to the specific needs of the Biscayan ore. This new production system was an evolution over the old kilns, allowing effective transformation of the ore without needing to mix the load with any fuel, which gave better results. To return to Bilbao, you can catch the train at the nearby station of Sagrada Familia.
This kiln worked at full capacity in the years 1961-1975. Its function was the calcination of iron carbonate to produce higher grade ore. It could produce up to 600 tons a day.
Cable railway and distribution facilities of the Franco-Belga company in Ortuella (1912).
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Between 1873 and 1912, four laws were passed to protect both women (who worked in the ore washeries and in haulage) and children (who worked in the wells from the age of 11) from labour abuses. These laws took years to be obeyed. In the photo, women at the Orconera washery. 1930s.
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Industry IRON: HIERRO: THEELRED ORO Heritage
ROJO GOLD DE OF BIZKAIA
EXTENSION 1 MINING REMAINS BETWEEN KOBARON AND POBEÑA ROUTE: 10 KM FROM ORTUELLA
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El Castillo loader (1877), of the MacLennan mine, in full operation in 1908. Current state.
Work at the Amalia Vizcaína mine, c. 1920.
You have to go to the neighbourhoods of either Pobeña or Kobaron in Muskiz, both located on the coast. This walk has two ends linked by a cliff path that uses the route of the old mining railway for the mines run by Joseph MacLennan (2.4 km). At the top of the cliff at Pobeña (8) you will see the remains of the Orconera washery, which was connected to the mines of La Arboleda by Europe’s largest aerial tramway of the time (8 km). It was in operation between 1910 and 1945. The same aerial tramway was used for the return of the ore after it had been washed using sea water; it was then moved to the company loaders in the river using the mining railway. Oddly, the loader (operating until 1963) which is below the Orconera company installations belonged to the MacLennan company, which owned several mines in the area of Kobaron. It is a good example of the lack of collaboration between different companies for the mutual use of infrastructures.
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Current state of the kilns.
In Kobaron you will see remnants of equipment and facilities of various mines (the Amalia Vizcaína, the Josefa and the Demasía a Complemento). They began mining there in the 1880s and closed 90 years later.
Orconera aerial tramway over the marshes at Pobeña; you can see the washery section at the top of the hill.
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Industry IRON: HIERRO: THEELRED ORO Heritage
ROJO GOLD DE OF BIZKAIA
EXTENSION 2 EL POBAL FOUNDRY ROUTE: 10 KM FROM ORTUELLA
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www.elpobal.com
This is a Historical Monument (9) because of its historical value. To get there by car, you must take the Santander road to Muskiz, the next town. Take the road to Sopuerta, and 4 km further on you will see the car park at the entrance to this building. Here you can see a real demonstration of how iron was worked before industrialised production. As a Museum, it is the only surviving example of hundreds of river ironworks in Bizkaia; it was here that they produced the famous ‘Bizkaian iron’.
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Hydraulic machinery.
Forge area.
Founded in the 16th century, it stayed in production as the last ironworks with the manufacture of tools, implements and wagons until its closure in 1965, when it was unable to compete with industrialized products. Closed on Mondays. Saturdays: live demonstrations of iron production.
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Industry IRON: THE RED Heritage
GOLD OF BIZKAIA
EXTENSION 3 LA ENCARTADA TEXTILE FACTORY ROUTE: 18 KM FROM EL POBAL
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www.laencartadamuseoa.com
Office accounting annexe of the production workshop.
Located just outside the medieval town of Balmaseda, it is an authentic temple to industry (10) with a factory that has been turned into a museum, its infrastructure and machinery kept intact since 1892. Precisely because it used the same machinery until its closure in 1992, it is a gem; you can see the technology of the era in situ with ďŹ delity that is very hard to ďŹ nd in other places. Until its closure, La Encartada maintained a complete production line and facilities for staff that made it a small industrial colony. They bought the wool raw, spun it and then turned it into berets (its main product), blankets, towels, scarves, socks, skeins or balaclavas. Closed on Mondays.
Wool carding machines using dried thistles.
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Walk 4
ONE RIVER, TWO WORLDS
ASSESSMENT
ROUTE 12 km
UNMISSABLE
01_Barakaldo. The industrial leader 02_Sestao. The factory city 03_Portugalete. Fusion of both sides of the river 04_Getxo. The mansions of the industrialists
“I do not think there’s anything in the Peninsula that would give a greater impression of strength, work and energy as these fourteen or fifteen kilometres of waterway” (Pío Baroja)
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Industry ONE RIVER, Heritage
TWO WORLDS
HOW TO GET THERE Metro: Bagatza. Leave the metro station by the G. Aresti street exit.
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BARAKALDO. THE INDUSTRIAL LEADER ROUTE: 1.3 KM
ACCESS: METRO TO THE BAGATZA STATION. LEAVE THE STATION BY THE GABRIEL ARESTI STREET EXIT.
Most of the names of these housing groups were a reflection of the aspirations or ethical values of the time.
START OF THE ROUTE: GABRIEL ARESTI STREET TOWARDS THE RIVER - SAN JOSÉ STREET – FERRERÍAS STREET - MUNIBE STREET- CERVANTES STREET. 80
Barakaldo and Sestao were home to most of the heavy industry of Bizkaia, and during much of the twentieth century had the largest concentration of the iron and steel industry in Spain. These were factories that filled the river plain (where this route takes you), and the inland valley on the other side of the hills where both these towns are located. A reflection of this intensive industrial employment was the proliferation of residential groups that went under the name of “casas baratas”. Both towns harbour almost 50% of all these houses in all Bizkaia, although many of these houses were replaced by buildings with higher density to accommodate the large influx of immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. In fact, along with the provincial capital, Bilbao, and Getxo with its palaces, these towns present the finest examples of residential and public architecture that arose out of industrialization. Group of cheap houses built in 1920. From left to right: Group “El Ahorro” (Saving), “La Felicidad” (Happiness), “La Providencia” (Providence) and “La Tribu Moderna” (The Modern Tribe). In the photograph of the latter, dating from the 1960s, the tracks of the Franco-Belga mining railway can still be seen, and its present appearance after the rails were replaced by a cycle path.
A SUCCESSION OF “CHEAP HOUSES”
THE CHEAP HOUSES: HUMANIST ARCHITECTURE The name does not refer to cost of the houses. It is a name of the laws enacted in the first third of the 20th century; these laws reflected the state aid given to promotions driven by workers’ cooperatives or by the companies for their workers. The types include all kinds of constructions: blocks of flats, terraced houses and detached houses. Their configuration, structure and level of finish were different depending on the income of the workers, technicians or employees. These groups of houses, of which there are still over 50 throughout Bizkaia, followed similar proposals carried out in France and Britain, and reflected the three-pronged approach of the Hygienist movement in response to the overcrowding of the working classes; air, sunlight and water.
In the section that begins this route, you can see different types of this sort of social building, all designed by Ismael Gorostiza. At the corner of Gabriel Aresti, in the direction of the route, you see the group of houses called “El Ahorro” (1) in the street of the same name on the right; to the left, the houses of “La Felicidad”, also with a ground floor and 3 upper floors. At the next junction, “La Providencia”, still has examples of semi-detached low-rise housing. Lower down, in Ferrerías street, there remains one of the finest groups: “La Tribu Moderna” (2), a residential group organized around courtyards of 4 houses with a small garden and a rear courtyard. Ismael Gorostiza (1879-1965) Other works: • Miranda Foundation (now the Music School). St. Vicente-Barakaldo (1911). • Los Hermanos School (1915). • La Unión Begoñesa. Bilbao (1925). • Bide-Onera Consumer Group department store. Barakaldo (1926). • Barakaldo market (1928). • Santa Ana group of houses. Bilbao (1928) (p. 50). • Large numbers of houses and cooperative housing groups (La Tribu Moderna, El Porvenir, La Familiar, El Hogar Futuro, El Buen Pastor...).
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TWO WORLDS
Santos Zunzunegui (1875-1945) Sestao municipal architect for 32 years. Other works:
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• Charles VII Municipal School (now the Music School). Sestao (1912) (p 93). • Ramón Vicuña House on the esplanade of Portugalete (1915) (p. 100). • Large numbers of houses and cooperative housing groups (La Esperanza, La Humanitaria, La Unión, La Protectora, La Aurora…) in the area. • Iberia cinema (1930). Now gone. • Restoration of Portugalete Hotel (1938) (p. 96).
Murrieta houses, built in different phases.
Munibe street continues and turns into Cervantes street, which runs down to the park where formerly part of the plant of Altos Hornos de Vizcaya (AHV), steelworks was located, the central symbol of the productive wealth of the region. Before passing under the railway tracks, you can see in Murrieta street (3) a group of houses that illustrate the architectural richness of that time in Barakaldo. They are Modernist buildings, in a Viennese variant, dating from different phases between 1914 and 1924 and designed by the other great architect of the area: Santos Zunzunegui.
THE DESIERTO PLAIN After crossing under the railway track, we arrive at what used to be the installations of AHV, an esplanade which is the extension of the ‘new’ Barakaldo for residential, business and leisure purposes. The first thing you can see is the new football pitch of Lasesarre (4), designed by Eduardo Arroyo and opened in 2003. It replaces the old pitch located across the railway line, where there is a sports centre today and where for decades the fans of Barakaldo FC used to sit among the smells and smoke of the businesses in the area.
Contemporary architecture at the Lasesarre football field.
Moving towards the river Galindo we see on our right the ‘classical temple’ called the Edificio Ilgner (5); from 1927 it housed the 2 generators that provided power for the rolling mills of Altos Hornos. It is noted for its rationalism in the use of reinforced concrete without any ornamentation, with walls pierced by long windows that help to create a feeling of lightness. Its textural quality is endorsed by the use of brick in the cladding. After its rehabilitation in 1998, it now houses the headquarters of several new business initiatives, and one of the original generators has been preserved inside. It is one of the best examples of the conversion of an outstanding industrial building for new uses. Opposite the Ilgner there are 2 bridges spanning the river Galindo; the town of Sestao is on the other side. This meeting point of the river Galindo and the river Nervión was for much of the 20th century the largest concentration of industry in the whole of Spain. Behind you, on the side belonging to Barakaldo, was the steelworks Nuestra Señora de El Carmen en 1855 (which became Altos Hornos de Bilbao in 1882). Along with the steelworks of La Vizcaya and La Iberia (both in Sestao), they would end up merging into the great company Altos Hornos de Vizcaya in 1902. Ahead, the whole of the bank of the Nervión on the Sestao side was a conglomeration of three large companies (the Aurrera foundry, the La Naval shipyard and AHV itself) with many workshops and auxiliary services around.
External and internal view of the restoration of the Ilgner Building. In the 1940s at full capacity with its two generators.
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The confluence of the river Galindo with the river Nervión is known locally as “La Punta”. In both photos (in the 1910s and 1960s) you can see the silhouette of the church of El Carmen, demolished in 1974 to expand the coal depot of Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, whose size can be seen in the modern photograph.
During the twentieth century, the river of Galindo and the Nervión itself were among the most polluted waterways in Europe. The enormous importance of this production area meant that, during the Civil War, the demolition of these iron and steel emporiums was mooted so that they would not fall into the hands of Franco’s troops (1937). Finally, the Basque government of the time chose to leave them operating with the argument that its disappearance would bring more hardship to a population that was already in great need. The effects of the disappearance or reduction of these industries make this part of the route both interesting and educational and also aesthetically hard. We are in a region with the highest rates of unemployment in the Basque Country, and Sestao has the highest rate (18%) with a population loss of 30% since the end of the great companies around it during the 1980s and 1990s. The town is located high on a hill, surrounded by the river Nervión Valley (where we are now) and the course of the river Galindo on the other side. Both valleys were the site of large companies including Altos Hornos de Bizkaia, Babcock&Wilcox, General Eléctrica, La Naval and Aurrera which employed about 40,000 people in the 1970s. Today because of closures or a drastic reduction in the workforce (as in the case of La Naval or the new Acería Compacta), compact steelworks), and even with the recent opening of new companies, only about 2,000 jobs have remained. This part of the route passes through the area most directly linked to the nowdefunct Altos Hornos and, after the effort made in Barakaldo, the regeneration process for Sestao is in full implementation, with a plan to redevelop derelict premises and land, restore houses that have deteriorated over time, boost trade and services, and so on.
02 Model of an AHV locomotive (1970) similar to the one you can see across the bridge (6).
SESTAO. THE FACTORY CITY ROUTE: 4 KM
On the other side of the pedestrian bridge you will find one of the many steam engines that were used in AHV. The beginning of “La Punta” area was occupied by two large companies that lay between the Altos Hornos de Vizcaya factory in Barakaldo and the two AHV plants in Sestao: the land abandoned in 1999 by the Aurrera foundry created in 1885, and the area marked by large cranes that can be seen in the grounds of La Naval shipyard.
THE LAST GREAT SHIPYARD ON THE RIVER La Naval (7) is the last great shipyard on the river after the closure of the Euskalduna in Bilbao. It began operation in 1916 from the previous company Nervión Shipyards, founded in 1888 and pioneers in the construction of steel ships. 85
Dry dock no. 1. Launching the tanker Zaragoza in 1968. Sailing out for the sea trial of a mining ship in 2013.
View of the shipyard in 1919 with the cruise ship Alfonso XIII on the slipway.
Of its facilities, it is worth noting their building halls, the offices designed by Manuel Mª de Smith and especially dry dock no. 1 which, although substantially modified, belonged to the original shipyard. Its great dimensions measure 26-35 m wide, 150 m long and 1 m deep with the oldest closing caisson in Spain, are the result of the design of facilities aimed to compete for orders for a new naval fleet in the late nineteenth century. As in the case of the shipyard located in Bilbao (Euskalduna), its facilities were also used to produce other articles, including railway rolling stock, cars, cranes...
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Late 19th century, the three companies that merged to create Altos Hornos de Vizcaya in 1902.
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THE INDUSTRIAL FLAGSHIP: ALTOS HORNOS DE VIZCAYA Altos Hornos de Vizcaya was founded in 1902 as a result of the merger of three previous steel companies (Altos Hornos de Bilbao, La Vizcaya and La Iberia) and, after purchasing the factory of San Francisco (1879) it became the most important company in Spain in the first half of the twentieth century. It closed its doors for ever in 1996 and the land in Sestao is now occupied by the ArcelorMitall facilities of the Bizkaia Compact Steelworks.
Altos Hornos de Bilbao steelworks in Barakaldo (1882), formerly the Nuestra Señora del Carmen company (1855).
Altos Hornos was one of the great landowners in Spain, as it owned large mines and became the main shareholder in other steel companies in the country. 86
In 1960, at the peak of its operation, 17,000 workers worked there. In this area it eventually had 4 large production centres; the three described when it was created and a fourth devoted to the production of hot rolled metal which opened in 1966 on the plain of Ansio, located in the interior valley of Barakaldo. It was a fully-equipped steel mill that turned the iron ore into semi-finished steel products.
La Iberia in Sestao (1890).
PRODUCTION SYSTEM OF A FULLYEQUIPPED STEELMILL* From the beginning, it had enough coke ovens to be self-sufficient in coke. Numerous types of coal were piled up in silos and from there they were fed through hoppers onto conveyor belts carrying the coal to be ground up; there, after removing the ashes, the coal was classified according to its quality and origin. Then it passed to the cooling towers, located above the coke ovens.
La Vizcaya (1882) at the end of the quay in Sestao.
The coal was loaded into machines that fed the coke ovens.
1918 advertisement.
The ovens were lined up so as to not lose heat as a result of irradiation. Each oven was heated with gas from a small adjoining room and one burning session was carried out after another, nearly half of the load. The volatile elements released in the process were used as chemical by-products. After finishing the coking process, the coke was withdrawn from the retort oven and it was cooled rapidly on the surface; this was done with a cooling tower. The coke was then cut and sieved and depending on its granulometry it was sent to the blast furnace or the different sections of the factory. For the production of ammonium sulphate there were two sets of tanks to distil ammonia solution. There, the acid was shaken and passed through electric heaters until the sulphate crystals solidified.
1,000 ton coke ovens. 1950s.
Once the cast iron had been made, the next step was to turn it into steel and for that transformer furnaces were used. Starting with the emerging ingots, all kinds of rolled products were made in the rolling mills. The process in this part was as follows: the steel was poured into a ladle and was transported by a crane over a series of ingot moulds. At the bottom a valve was opened and a stream of steel poured out and filled the moulds. When the liquid steel solidified it became an ingot, which was the first solid appearance of the steel. Later it was separated from the moulds using cranes equipped with pincers. The ingots were piled up in vertical heatresistant barrels in which they remained at high temperatures until they were used.
1904. 10,000hp machine for the rolling mill.
*Texts: hiru.com
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Panoramic view of the AHV facilities in the 1970s in this part of the river. You can see one of the two factories in Barakaldo and the two in Sestao. AHV had other factories in Etxebarri (Bizkaia) and Lesaka (Navarra).
Letterhead in 1911.
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Panoramic view of the Sestao factories c.1930.
Shipment area for corrugated steel, bars and rods (1940s).
Sestao facilities at full capacity c. 1965.
Bessemer converters in the 1940s.
Throughout the twentieth century, the life of the towns on the banks of the Nervión was marked by the activity of the AHV steelworks. As a popular song went, its “furnaces illuminate all Bilbao”, which was a real effect whenever the Bessemer converters poured the cast iron and the sky turned a red that was visible over 12 km away.
Cast iron. 1990s.
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The School of Apprentices trained people in many areas. Forging and technical drawing practice (1940s). The combination of study and work in the company, meant they had highly qualified workers available.
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Now in the rolling process, the hot ingots passed through powerful rotating cylinders which narrowed and stretched the section of the ingot The School of Apprentices under pressure. In another part of the building in the steelworks, in the structural mills, 1970s. Modern the bloom (a square plate of steel) close-up of the was rolled for both heavy construction metal bars with the (rails, bridges, structures for buildings company logo on and ships) and for commercial the windows. purposes. To manage this, they had roughing mills with two cylinders that rolled counterclockwise around the ingot: as the surface had grooves, the ingot passed through the mills several times, once for each groove until it was gradually reduced in thickness. After rolling, the blooms were cut into particular lengths, depending on the purpose that they were intended for, to move them to the rolling mill and give them the desired shape. Walking along Rivas street and Txabarri street, we can imagine the enormous, complex installations of this company in what is now ArcelorMittal. Its profound interaction with the surrounding municipalities (especially intense in this town) can be seen perfectly in this street. Txabarri was the main road of Sestao, where its most emblematic houses were, which, ironically, suffered the greatest pollution from being in the vicinity of the factory.
1890 building with a gate designed for access to the stables. The corner of Txabarri street with La Iberia street in the 1950s.
Here the first horse-drawn ‘blood’ tram ran between Bilbao and Santurtzi, opened in 1882, and an electric tram 14 years later. In between, 1888 saw the opening of the railway between Bilbao and Portugalete, which still runs along the bottom of this valley. The great company not only occupied most of the surface of this whole area but it also became a property promoter for groups of houses until 1965; it created schools, consumer cooperatives, hospitals and leisure centres. In short, a whole infrastructure that generally saturated the urban areas of Barakaldo and Sestao. Part of this legacy can be observed in the walk through Sestao. In Txabarri street we pass the old first aid post (8) and 200 m further on, the old School of Apprentices (9), with the company logo on the bars over its windows.
As in other large companies, this school combined studies with intensive in-house practice to train generations of qualified operators to exactly fit the needs of each company. They could be considered the forerunner of today’s vocational training. After this building Blast Furnace No. 1 (10) ) of 1959 rises majestically, the only one left of the 3 that were here, and whose restoration is designed to make it an interpretation centre for the steel industry. The furnaces were vertical constructions. They were made of a vat covered with welded plate, a shell lined with refractory material. The total height of the furnace is 80 m and its diameter is 18 m. The main technical features of this construction are its support on a circular beam, the crucible of 6.5 m in diameter, 25 m interior height with a useable interior volume of 757 m2, and the Wurth double bell-mouth inlet ducts for better distribution of internal loads and for preventing gas leaks. The oven has a series of auxiliary elements necessary for its operation, of which you can still see the three ovens with their chimneys, the flue gas ducts with dust separators, the cable railway for loading the furnace and the casting hall. The 31 m-high Didier furnaces were forced air intake furnaces, each with 21,247 m2 of heating surface. The gas produced by the furnace was taken away by the outlet tubes, arranged in pairs, which flowed out to a collector and led the gas to a dry filter, reusing part of it to heat the furnaces. For transporting loads of ore, additives and coke, a wagon or skip was used, which was moved by a winch up a slope from a pit in the ground to the feed point at the top of the blast furnace. In the casting hall where the slag and pig iron were collected, channels or gullies were used to pour them into ladles for casting; also, there was a pneumatic drill and an electric gun, which were used for opening and closing the tap hole.
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View from the river of the steelworks and three blast furnaces in 1980. The twin furnaces No. 1 of 1959 (below in its current restoration process) and No. 2 of 1968, replaced four previous furnaces of smaller capacity.
Throughout its history, Altos Hornos de Vizcaya exported its steel to more than 50 countries.
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THE CENTRE OF THE TOWN Sestao concentrates its population on the two sides of the hill that separates the river Nervión from the inland valley of the river Galindo where two other large companies were located: Babcock&Wilcox, dedicada which produced capital goods, and General Eléctrica which made energy equipment and whose original halls are now partially occupied by the multinational ABB. To cope with the steep slopes, you can make use of the mechanical ramps in La Iberia street connecting Txabarri street to the top of the hill. Once at the top, the first thing you see is what is now the music school (11), painted green and burgundy. Its original function, until 1987, was as the old schoolhouse.
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It is a work of 1912 designed by Santos Zunzunegui (p. 82), the other great local architect of the left bank along with Ismael Gorostiza (p. 81). Curiously, on the corner of La Iberia street you can see a notice board where the deaths that have occurred in the town are announced, a striking custom of the area. Just across the street (the Gran Vía or high street of the town), is a square with the building in which the first consumer cooperative was reinstalled in the Basque Country (12).
Industrial units at Babcock & Wilcox in the plain of the Galindo. It was in operation in Sestao from 1920 until its closure in the early 1990s. Inside one of the halls in 1970 used for the production of trains, one line among the many capital goods it produced.
Old school of Charles VII (now the Music School) in 1985 and current state of the old Berria cooperative.
Created by the steelworkers of La Vizcaya S.A. in 1887, this building, also designed by Santos Zunzunegui, was built when the cooperative moved to the upper area of the municipality in the 1920s. It is interesting to note the concrete reproduction of rivets that mimic a metallic style. Back at the Gran Vía abordamos we go down the second street on the left (Los Baños street) to see various different types of houses again, still linked to the industrial development of the area and the population explosion that happened as a result. The second junction is La Unión street (13) which is named after a group of terraced houses that run down from this corner of the street. This was another work by Santos Zunzunegui, built, as shown on its ceramic plaque, between 1923 and 1925.
State of the corrala houses “La Galana” in the 1970s.
Visit of the Minister to the social houses La Humanitaria in 1926.
Near the bottom is the ‘corrala’ corridored house known as “La Galana” (14). It is a restored building defined by the fact that the doors of all the flats led out onto a communal corridor where, in its time, the toilets were located in one corner. It was a model of house which was halfway between the previous huts and later types of housing. La Galana is the last evidence left of this type of construction in the last third of the nineteenth century in Bizkaia. Before continuing this route along the river, we recommend that you go back to the Gran Via and walk 200m to the left (up the small hill) to see 2 other groups of cheap houses on either side of the street. La Protectora and La Humanitaria (15) will be the last groups of “cheap houses” we see on our walk; both groups have the characteristic English style of the area in the 1920s and, as already mentioned, were a milestone in the quality of life of its inhabitants, under the guidance of humanist architecture.
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La Benedicta dockside in the 1970s.
The route requires us to walk down to the level of the river. We can do it by going down La Iberia street to the bottom or simply going down between any of the streets to see, in all its intensity, the jumbled urban planning that led Sestao to be considered in the 1960s and 1970s one of the points of highest urban density in Europe. You go down La Iberia street or by the viaduct next to the Blast Furnace down to the quay of La Benedicta (16), going round the most recent part of the Compact Steelworks of Bizkaia (ACB). This is as far as AHV extended towards the sea: mineral loaders, freight and passenger railways, cargo ships, tugboats, barges (barge ships of up to 400 tons to transport slag or coal), eternally leaden grey skies, the furnace mouths glistening in the sky and extreme acoustic, water and air pollution... 94
It was a local vision of hell that remained for almost a century and employed thousands of people in an intensive occupation that will never be seen again. An industrial conglomerate that occupied the banks of the river and, as in the case of Bilbao and Barakaldo, made access for the local people to the river difficult. Today, some of these factories have been converted into a convenient, view-filled pedestrian path that joins Sestao and Portugalete, and extends to the next town of Santurtzi. From here you can see the great icon of the area: the Puente Bizkaia, the first industrial work in operation recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006.
La Benedicta in 1909 with the view of the La Vizcaya and La Iberia steelworks (already part of AHV) and loaders of the Galdames Railway (Bilbao River & Cantabrian Railway Co Ltd), by which iron ore was transported until 1946.
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PORTUGALETE. FUSION OF BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER ROUTE: 3 KM
This town was founded in 1322, only 22 years after Bilbao, and it is dominated by the Basílica of Santa María (15th century) which is Gothic with Renaissance influences, and the tower of the Salazar family (14th century), which are both in the same square at the top of the old town. These were two centuries in which the town underwent remarkable development, but it went into decline when Bilbao started to monopolise the activity on the river. In the twentieth century, Portugalete merges the concept of spa town (typical of the opposite bank) at its lowest level down by the river, with high residential density at its highest point (similar to that of the manufacturing towns previously visited).
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On the way to the transporter bridge, we will see the scant remains of the stone loaders of the Galdames mining railway and, a little further on, in what used to be the building for the port authorities, the Rialia Industrial Museum (www. rialia.net), dedicated to collections and memories of the activity of AHV. From the era of industrialisation, Portugalete has two listed monuments. One, the famous bridge and the other, the Iron Pier, which solved navigability problems that the river had had for centuries and that became the great exit point for the products extracted or manufactured upriver. Once you enter the old quarter, you will see a building strikingly painted in yellow and blue. It was the old train terminus La Canilla (17) designed by Pablo Alzola (p. 28) in 1888 as the terminus station of the Bilbao-Portugalete railway line before the train line was extended to Santurtzi in 1926. It currently houses the town’s tourist office. Just 50 metres ahead on the riverside there still exists a system of alternative transport to the transporter bridge: the motorboats that also connect both sides. In the 1970s there were up to 7 crossing points on the river for ferries between Bilbao and Santurtzi. Today there is only this one, and the one at the quay in Desierto, in Barakaldo.
La Canilla station at its opening (1888) and now, converted into the town tourist office.
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Above is the Plaza del Ayuntamiento or Town Hall Square. In the background you can see the Bustamante House (18) designed in 1910 by the Cantabrian architect Leonardo Rucabado with clear influences of Catalan Modernism. From this square, from the corner of the Gran Hotel, continue the walk along the river, where you can see a variety of large houses and mansions.
Facade of the Town Hall and Casa Bustamante at the entrance to the Old Quarter.
THE GREAT ICON OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY: DREAM OR BUSINESS?*
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The Bizkaia Bridge (19) embodies both. It is a transporter toll bridge, conceived, designed and built by the private sector between 1887 and 1893, linking the two banks of the Nervión River and was the first of its type in the world. Its construction was due to the need to link the existing spa resorts on both sides of the river, for the industrial bourgeoisie and tourists of the late nineteenth century. *Texts: euskadi.eus
Photograph in the year of its inauguration (1893).
1895. Battleship María Teresa, launched in the Nervión Shipyards in 1890.
In 1887 Alberto de Palacio met the contractor Ferdinand Arnodin. The Frenchman was attracted by Palacio’s project and provided techniques for suspension bridges with cables that he had developed in his earlier projects. Thus, the “Vizcaya Bridge” in terms of Transporter was Palacio’s invention, and in terms of Suspension was Arnodin’s. Fortunately it was both at the same time and that’s what made it original and new. As new as the money that financed its construction. At a time when multimillionaire fortunes were being forged at the edge of the river, none of the mining magnates nor the richest ship owners, none of the bankers nor any of the wealthy patrons of the biggest steelmaking centre in the peninsula risked getting involved in this project to connect the two sides of the river with an iron bridge. The absolute novelty of the project made the great names in the financial pantheon of Bilbao look on it sceptically. Neither did they see a lucrative business in the transport of passengers over short distances. It would be twelve modest businessmen linked to trade and light industry who would embark on the adventure. Among them, one stands out as the true entrepreneur of the work: Santos López de Letona.
The role of López de Letona is worth emphasizing, because it embodies an archetype of Basque economic tradition: the figure of the ‘indiano’, the rich emigrant who made his money in America. Returning to Europe with a healthy fortune, he decided to invest in the project of the Transporter Bridge, which goes to show his forward thinking and confidence in industrial progress. In addition to being the one who brought the most capital to the venture, he imposed his serene, rigorous spirit and managed to dispel the disputes that arose between Palace, Arnodin and partners of the Company. And there were many, because the construction of the “Vizcaya Bridge” proved slow, complex and not without controversy between the forces involved. It did not follow the initial project plan in the technical conditions, the budget or the deadlines. Suffice to say that although work began amid great optimism on August 4th, 1890, in 1891 they progressed with agonizing slowness, due to legal problems, the reluctance of the builder and the mistrust of the partners. So much so that there were times when the very existence of the monument hung by a thread.
Alberto de Palacio’s plans. His visionary character led him, at that time, to propose cafes and restaurants, elevators and a walkway above.
Alberto de Palacio y Elissague (1856-1939) Other works: • The Crystal Palace in El Retiro Park. Madrid (1887). • Atocha station with engineer Saint-James. Madrid (1888-1892) • Bank of Spain. Madrid (1884-1891).
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Differences between the technical director (Palacio) and the contractor (Arnodin) began almost immediately. Arnodin acted with an entrepreneurial mentality, while Palacio saw the bridge as the pursuit of a personal dream that it was always possible to improve, with plans that he never took for definitive. It was inevitable that the inflexible pragmatism of the Frenchman would collide with the boundless youthful imagination of the Basque. The investors did not understand this tense dialogue between the creator and the dealer, and watched the struggle with distrust. Added to this was the anguish of thinking that their savings would vanish if the government did not renew their work permits because of the delays. The work was so new and the architect’s mind so active that the transporter bridge changed and mutated as he went along. He understood that he could exploit the potential of the structure as a leisure resource and make it part of the landscape of the summer amusements of the beaches of El Abra. The partners were delighted with the idea, but Arnodin responded with great reluctance; for him the original plan was “a light economic construction”. Palacio and Arnodin ploughed ahead together, almost
always with many doubts and reproaching each other for the delays; one accusing the other of being slow in manufacturing and the other diagnosing him with an incurable ‘maladie des changements’, or disease of changes. But amid all the problems, the group of men set on the construction of the “Vizcaya Bridge” was held together by the contagious faith of Alberto de Palacio in his project and by a unanimous feeling of being involved in a transcendent work. They were not mistaken. On July 15th 1893, the last missing piece to complete the gigantic meccano arrived: a “Henri David” water pump made in Orleans. Everything was quickly mounted on a platform above the arches of the first floor of a nearby building and on the 24th the bridge was ready to be tested. The machinery started with a tremble, the gondola started moving, the cables tightened and yet the great metal skeleton remained rigid, without deflections or vibration. The bridge worked. And it still does today. It even offers the possibility of crossing the river along its upper walkway, with its superb views of the river and the river mouth.
With the opening of the Iron Pier, the ‘tidal clock’ gauge quickly became a simple striking object that has survived to this day.
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The house of the businessman and nationalist politician Ramón Vicuña is perhaps the best example of the profusion of mansions on this part of the walk. Built in 1915 by Santos Zunzunegui (p. 82) in the regionalist style, it is interesting to note the coffered ceiling under the eaves and two side towers with a covered balcony.
It was a model for other similar bridges around the world later. There are numerous panels around it explaining its details, the process of construction or the repair after the Spanish Civil War. It works continuously every day of the year 24 hours a day. Its current colour was inspired by the red hematite iron seam of Somorrostro.
THE IRON PIER: THE CONSTRUCTION THAT DROVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIZKAIA Now, we will just go past it to get to the other great jewel of this trip: the Iron Pier (21). In addition to the imposing bourgeois houses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, on the walk you will see a clock that is actually a tide gauge (20) installed only two years before the opening of the Iron Pier. The substantial form of this structure has to be imagined today. The point of the walk where the pier begins used to be Portugalete beach; in fact, you can see towering
The problem of the navigability of the river can be seen in this photo taken 4 years after the construction of the Iron Pier (1887) picture. Here you can see how the sand bank from the right side (called Las Arenas, the sands, for that reason), made access impossible for ships with a deep enough draft to export the products of the mines.
Beach scene dated 1901.
beachside houses on the hill now converted into hotels and municipal services. This beach was connected to the opposite bank by a sand bar that, throughout history, made it very difficult to navigate the river; the dreaded Portugalete sand bar - also known as the school for shipwrecks – made of shifting sands that hindered navigation periodically, sometimes making it impossible at low tide (with depths of only 1 m).
For the construction of the infrastructure, which then faced the open sea, he did not have much money or time, so he decided to put up an iron pier built on screw piles which that little later he chose to change in the final hundred meters, building a traditional masonry seawall, with greater width and height than the original six hundred metres. The design of the quay modified the existing currents and used them to so that the current itself acted as the best dredge.
Centuries of dredging and cleaning were not able to clear this important gateway to the river of Bilbao for ships with enough draft for the iron trade, and this explains the profusion of unprotected loaders on the cliffs from outside the current port right round to the neighbouring province of Cantabria.
The work was finished in 1887 and its construction finally solved the problem of navigability in the port of Bilbao, creating an eighty metre wide step with a depth of 4.58 m at low tide; Churruca would be recognized for his worth in the field of European civil engineering. It is a work that explains exactly how the term genius is the etymological basis of the word engineer.
Until Evaristo de Churruca was appointed director of the Port Works Board in 1877.
We retrace our steps back to the Bizkaia Bridge and go over to the opposite shore.
One of the design features of the pier is the sleek, lightweight bracing in the form of a St. Andrew’s cross that supports the pier under its first 600 m.
Postcard dating from the early twentieth century. You can see that there was a seaside atmosphere, until the pollution and the transfer of the bourgeoisie to the opposite shore led to the disappearance of the beach in 1950.
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GETXO. THE MANSIONS OF THE INDUSTRIALISTS ROUTE: 3.5 KM
We are now in Las Arenas; one of the five areas that make up the sprawling town 102 of Getxo. Although their social makeup is very different between them, it contains two of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Spain; this one of Las Arenas and, especially, the adjacent Neguri ((‘winter town’ in Basque), where a large number of palaces and mansions are to be found. Here the cream of the Basque business class gathered, although today there is only one mansion that has been occupied continuously by the same family. As mentioned with the Iron Pier, the name Las Arenas made direct reference to the beaches, marshes and meadows, crossed by numerous streams that made human life impossible. In fact, in 1860, this area only had 36 inhabitants, living against the bases of the hills that surround it. From that year maritime pines, gorse and other plants with which to fix and hold the soil began to be planted. In 1868, the first spa had already been built, and this was the gateway to the construction of houses; first summer houses and then proper mansions for the gentry and industrial oligarchy.
Scenes from Las Arenas: 1880, 1900 and today from the Bizkaia bridge walkway.
In fact, if you walk along the bank of the river to the beach and walk along the whole esplanade (1,8 km) you will see houses with an unmistakable English air. The main entrance of these houses are in Zugazarte, street parallel to this, so we recommend that you alternate the seaside path with the road on the other side to look at their main facades and see the other mansions that do not overlook the sea. The succession of buildings, styles, distributions, origin of the owners and architects profiles is explained in 29 trilingual panels that offer a detailed explanation, both along this esplanade and on the walk at right-angles to this one, below the Arriluce hill, which leads to Ereaga beach. If any of the panels are damaged at the time of your visit, you can consult the enclosed booklet. It is a Monumental Complex that was recognized as a Heritage Site in 2011. Before starting this part of the walk it is worth considering the fact that many of these mansions were abandoned by the families living there between the 1970s and 1980s. The reasons can be found in a concatenation of circumstances: the closure of businesses they were owners of, the excessive costs of maintaining these large buildings and the pressure of terrorism that for decades subjected the elite that lived here to unbearable pressure.
Zugazarte Avenue. 1920. Pamphlet of the route of the large houses and mansions of the Getxo areas of Las Arenas and Neguri.
The El Abra Sailing Club, founded in 1902. Built by Severino Achúcarro (p. 25) and destroyed by the fire caused by an ETA terrorist attack in 1973.
As evidence of the harassment by ETA that the Basque business classes underwent, it is enough to look at the example of their social club par excellence: the Club Marítimo del Abra (22), which suffered three terrorist attacks between 1973 and 2008. The building is located between residential buildings and you can see the back of it just at the end of the small beach of Las Arenas. The recovery of the houses in the area is due also to a combination of factors that have affected their development: occupation as head offices of companies, conversion to hotel businesses, internal division into flats...
Current building from 1975 by Eugenio Aguinaga and Iñigo Eulate.
103
From left to right, the houses Cisco III, Cisco II and Cisco I (23). The original building was built in 1909 by Manuel Maria de Smith; the architect Eugenio de Aguinaga was inspired by this work to build Cisco II and III in 1948.. 104
Here and on Arrigunaga hill lived the most celebrated industrial and financial families in Spain: Ybarra, LezamaLeguizamón, Zabálburu, Aresti, Delclaux, De la Sota, Lipperheide, Zubiria, Arana… who, to show their economic position and social impact, hired the most famous architects of the time: Achúcarro, Bastida, Iturria, Garamendi, Amann… Among them, the Anglophile Manuel María de Smith (p. 13) stands out for the quantity, diversity and originality of his work. This part of the walk, along the sea front, continues along the Paseo Marqués de Arriluce (24) at rightangles to this esplanade under the hill of the same name. This stretch finishes at the end of Arrigunaga hill where the Punta Begoña Galleries stand open in front of the 1920s lighthouse, (the old lifeboat station) currently occupied by the Red Cross of the Sea.
Cisco I (1915).
End of the Marqués de Arriluce esplanade c. 1920. You can see houses that are no longer there, including the house of the republican industrialist Horacio Echevarrieta which included the galleries that have survived to this day. The building was constructed in 1911 by Gregorio de Ibarreche, while the galleries were a 1918 extension by Ricardo Bastida (p. 16). 105
And the route opens onto Ereaga beach. In the middle stands the old Igeretxe Spa (25). The present building was built in 1913 and is one of the first erected in reinforced concrete. The exterior structure appears plastered and painted and the decoration, which formerly followed Basque designs (false half-timbering, arched gate in thick stonework, fire doors...) has been simplified to a minimum. To return to Bilbao, you have 2 metro stations: 1) Neguri: you can get to this station by walking up the hill opposite the Igeretxe spa. This is a good option if you want to continue walking among the town houses and mansions until you end up in the square with the metro, which may remind you of an English square. 2) Algorta: Continue along the sea walk to the cable lift 300 m further on from the Igeretxe; when you can to the top, the station is about 800m away. Another option is to keep walking around the bay until you reach the picturesque area of the Old Port of Algorta (26); if you climb its steep steps and slopes to the top, you will also come out very close to the metro station.
Image of the Igeretxe Spa and Neguri area c. 1930. Today, the hill still has many large houses and mansions.
Industry Heritage
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
BILBAO TOURISM
ONDARROA
www.bilbao.net/bilbaoturismo
946 831 951 · www.ondarroa.net
BISKAY TOURISM
ORDUÑA
www.mybilbaobizkaia.net
945 384 384 · www.urduna.com
ALAVA TOURISM
PLENTZIA
www.alavaturismo.com
946 774 199 · www.plentzia.org
GIPUZKOA TOURISM
944 729 314 · www.portugalete.com
www.gipuzkoaturismo.net
BASQUE COUNTRY TOURISM www.euskaditurismo.net
NEKATUR/AGRITOURISMS 902 130 031 · www.nekatur.net
TOURIST OFFICES
PORTUGALETE SANTURTZI 944 839 494 · www.santurtzi.net
SOPELA 944 065 519 · www.sopelana.es
SOPUERTA 946 104 028 · www.sopuerta.biz
TRUCIOS-TURTZIOZ
BILBAO
946 109 604 · www.turtzioz.org
BILBAO TOURISM
ZIERBENA
· Plaza Circular, 1 Edificio Terminus 944 795 760 · Alameda de Mazarredo 66 (Next to Guggenheim Bilbao) · AIROPORT 944 031 444
946 404 974 · www.zierbena.net
BISCAY BAKIO
SAN SEBASTIÁN
SAN SEBASTIÁN TOURISM 943 481 166 www.sansebastianturismo.com
VITORIA-GASTEIZ
946 193 395 · www.bakio.org
VITORIA-GASTEIZ
BALMASEDA
945 161 598 · www.vitoria-gasteiz.org
946 801 356 · www.enkartur.net
106
BARAKALDO BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre)
TOURISM
944 995 821 www.bilbaoexhibitioncentre.com
BERMEO
Bilbao-Loiu · 902 404 704 (AENA) 944 869 660 / 944 869 663 www.aena.es
946 179 154 · www.bermeo.org
CRUISE AND FERRY
DIMA
AIRPORT
944 046 097 · www.gorbeialdea.com
Ferry Bilbao-Portsmouth · 944 234 477 www.poferries.com
DURANGO
TRAINS
946 033 938 · www.durango-udala.net
Abando Indalecio Prieto Station (Renfe) Plaza Circular, 2 · 902 320 320 www.renfe.es Atxuri Station (EUSKOTREN) Atxuri 8 · 902 543 210 / 944 019 900 www.euskotren.es Concordia Station, FEVE Bilbao Calle de Bailén 2 · 944 250 615 www.feve.es
GERNIKA-LUMO 946 255 892 · www.gernika-lumo.net
GETXO 944 910 800 · www.getxo.net
GORDEXOLA 946 799 715 · www.gordexola.net
GORLIZ 946 774 348 · www.gorliz.net
KARRANTZA-HARANA 946 806 928 · www.karrantza.org
LEKEITIO 946 844 017 · www.lekeitio.com
MENDATA 946 257 402 · www.mendata.es
MUNDAKA 946 177 201 · www.mundaka.org
MUXIKA 946 257 609 · www.urremendi.org
BUSES Termibus (Bus station) Gurtubai 1 · 944 395 077 www.termibus.es Bilbobus (City buses) 944 484 070 · 944 790 981 www.bilbao.net/bilbobus Bizkaibus (Provincial and airport buses) 902 222 265 · www.bizkaia.net
Walk 1
MINES, MILLS AND MERCHANDISE
Industry
6
El Pontón Along the Los Caños route to the Ribera Market From the Area of the Mines to Harino Panadera New Areas/Classical Ensanche/Old Quarter
ASSESSMENT
MUSEUM OF IMAGES OF THE HOLY WEEK www.museodepasos.org
TRAM 902 543 210 · 944 019 900 www.euskotran.es
MUSEUM OF IMAGES OF THE HOLY WEEK www.plazatorosbilbao.com www.torosbilbao.com
TAXIS Radio Taxi Bilbao 944 448 888
BASQUE MUSEUM / EUSKAL MUSEOA www.euskal-museoa.org
Tele Taxi 944 102 121 Radio Taxi Nervión 944 269 026 BIKE HIRE Bilbon Bizi 944 205 193 944 203 113
GENERAL
VERY INTERESTING
OUTPATIENTS 112
ROUTE
GENERAL INFORMATION 010 (for calls from within Bilbao) 944 010 010 (for calls outside of Bilbao)
6.3 km
Heritage
METRO BILBAO 944 254 025 · www.metrobilbao.net
CONSULAR OFFICE Gran Vía 13-6º 944 706 426 CITIZEN INFORMATION 010 or 944 241 700
Walk 3
BILBAO CARD
This card is your passport to savings when planning your stay in Bilbao; use it for public transport, museum and theatre tickets, restaurants, shops and other leisure activities. Request it at any tourist information office or on: www.bilbao.net/bilbaoturismo
ROADS GENERAL INFORMATION 900 123 505 or 112
IRON: THE RED GOLD OF BIZKAIA
54
ASSESSMENT UNMISSABLE
ROUTE 9 km
Larreineta funicular railway La Arboleda - Zugaztieta Miners and mines: the devoured mountain
CONSUMER INFORMATION MUNICIPAL OFFICE 944 204 969 METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE 807 170 348 LOST AND FOUND 944 204 981
Ortuella
CUSTOMS Barroeta Aldámar, 1 · 944 234 700
EXTENSION 1: Mining remains between Kobaron and Pobeña. From Ortuella: 10 km.
PASSPORTS- VISAS- ID CARD Alcalde Uhagón, 6
EXTENSION 2: El Pobal foundry. From Ortuella: 10 km.
BILBAO DENDAK 944 706 500
EXTENSION 3: La Encartada textile factory. From El Pobal: 18 km.
GUGGENHEIM BILBAO MUSEUM www.guggenheim-bilbao.es
944 210 000 Ext. 215 DOCUMENTATION (GEN. INFORMATION) 900 150 000
ATHLETIC CLUB MUSEUM www.athletic-club.net EUSKARAREN ETXEA www.euskararenetxea.net ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM www.bizkaia.net
MUSEUMS IN BISCAY
ALONG THE COAST PESQUERO AGURTZA C.I. FISHING MUSEUM (Santurtzi) www.losmuseosdelacostavasca.com SANTURTZI ITSASOA INTERPRETATION CENTRE (Santurtzi) www.losmueosdelacostavasca.com RIALIA INDUSTRY MUSEUM (Portugalete) www.rialia.net BISCAY BRIDGE (Las Arenas-Getxo/Portugalete) www.puente-colgante.com FISHERMEN’S MUSEUM (Bermeo) www.bizkaikoa.bizkaia.net INLAND BALMASEDA MUSEUM (Balmaseda) www.visitenkarterri.com BOINAS LA ENCARTADA MUSEUM (Balmaseda) www.laencartadamuseoa.com BASQUE CHARTER MUSEUM (Sopuerta) www.enkarterrimuseoa.net EL POBAL SMITHY (Muskiz) www.bizkaia.net/elpobal
MUSEUMS IN BILBAO
LOIZAGA TOWER VINTAGE AND CLASSIC CAR MUSEUM (Galdames) www.torreloizaga.com
FINE ARTS MUSEUM www.museobilbao.com
BASQUE COUNTRY MINING MUSEUM (Gallarta) www.museominero.net
BILBAO BENEDICTO MUSEUM www.museo-benedicto.net
Version: MAY 2015. Version one Published by: Bilbao Bizkaia be Basque Content: Rúbrica Printers: Artes Gráficas Munguía, S.L. / Legal Deposit: BI-625-15
ARTISTIC REPRODUCTIONS MUSEUM www.museoreproduccionesbilbao.org
DIOCESAN MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS ART www.eleizmuseoa.com
“JOSÉ LUIS GOTI” MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF BASQUE MEDICINE AND SCIENCE (Leioa) www.bizkaia.ehu.es
BILBAO RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM www.museomaritimobilbao.org
OROZKO MUSEUM (Orozko) www.orozkoudala.com
BASQUE CULTURE MUSEUM (EUSKAL HERRIA) (Gernika-Lumo) www.bizkaia.net/euskalherriamuseoa GERNIKA PEACE MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Gernika-Lumo) www.museodelapaz.org GERNIKA MEETING HOUSE (Gernika-Lumo) www.gernika-lumo.net SIMÓN BOLÍVAR MUSEUM (Ziortza-Bolibar) www.simonbolibarmuseoa.com BASQUE FARMSTEAD ECOMUSEUM / EUSKAL BASERRIA (Artea) www.euskalbaserria.com DURANGO ART AND HISTORY MUSEUM (Durango) www.bizkaia.net VALENTÍN DE BERRIOTXOA MUSEUM (Elorrrio) www.museoberrio-otxoa.com
NATURE RESERVES
URDAIBAI BIOSPHERE RESERVE 944 650 822 www.busturialdeaurdaibai.com 946 870 402 (Ihobe) www.torremadariaga.net GORBEIA NATURE RESERVE 946 739 279 Areatza Park Interpretation Centre 945 430 167 · 946 315 525 Gorbeialdea · www.gorbeialdea.com www.gorbeiacentralpark.com URKIOLA NATURE RESERVE 946 814 155 · www.urkiola.net ARMAÑÓN NATURE RESERVE 946 800 226 · www.enkartur.net
BIOiron
Industry
&
Heritage
4 walks www.bioiron.info
www.mybilbaobizkaia.com www.bilbaoturismo.net
Heritage Industry&
BILBAO TOURISM Plaza Circular, 1 Edificio Terminus 944 795 760
showing the industrial heritage of the estuary of Bilbao Before the titanium came iron
European Industrial and Technical Heritage Year
2015