Guernica: Trajedy in Basque Country

September 30, 2024

We had been wanting to visit Guernika, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, ever since we arrived in Spain. However, there were always bigger and more sexy cities drawing our attention like San Sebastian, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz. But on our second to last day in Spain, when poor weather and poor planning caused us to cancel our plans to visit Santander, we decided to seize the opportunity to finally visit Guernika (the Basque spelling of Guernica). 

If this name sounds familiar to you it is because it was the location of a tragic bombing during the run up to WWII. While the town does have some impressive cathedrals, a picturesque town square and one of the last in use jai-alai courts in northern Spain, it is bombing museums and monuments that are the real treasures of Guernika. 

You probably only need a day to visit Guernika (note: I will be using the Basque spelling in this post) unless you are someone who likes to check off every box from every top 10 travel site or guide book (you know who you are!).  We spent the better part of a day there and managed to see and do everything that appealed to us with one of two acceptions (see below). 

Since we drove to Guernika, parking was our first priority and we found a spot on the street right away. If you do street park, pay close attention to the signs for when you can and cannot park there - or ask a local (we asked inside the museum).  We were in a spot that was a pay spot until 4pm and then free up until 6pm.  So we put in some cash that would get us to 4pm with the intention of leaving before 6pm when payment was required again.

Our first stop was the Guernica Peace Museum, a 3 story building packed with photos, videos, artifacts and interactive displays relating to the bombing of Guernika including a very moving imersive experience where you sit in a darkened space watching a dimly lit replica of a living room in Guernika while audio from a Basque family plays over sounds of planes bombs exploding untilmately leaving the house in rubble. This is your first introduction to the bombing and it is very powerful.

From there you walk a timeline of the civial conflict leading up to the bombing on April 26, 1937 with descriptions, photographs and artifacts that have been donated to the museum over the years. While the descriptions are in Spanish, Euskera (Basque) and French, there is an app available where you can follow along in Enblish OR you can purchase an English transcript of the timeline descriptions for 4 Euros from the gift shop near the ground floor entrance. 

One floor down there is also an amphitheatre showing dicumentary of the lead up to the bombing and all of the political discourse as well as the aftermath. 

After learning about the bombing of the market place we wanted to visit that next, but it was not open on Sundays. Plan accordingly if that is important to your visit. Instead we walked up the street to see a replica of Picasso's famous "Guernika" painting which he was inspired to paint after hearing about the bombing.  The original was painted in 1937 - the same year as the bombing - and is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.

.....and then over to the Elai-Alai Plaza for a bite to eat, walking past the impressive Church of Andra Maria on the way.  

After lunch we had hoped to walk the few feet to the Basque Cultural Museum (Euskal Herria Museum), but that too was closed on Sunday.  Instead we walked back up the hill, through an elementary school courtyard, to the Parque de los Pueblos de Europa (The Park of the European Nations).  This is a medium sized park with lots of open space surrounded by shade paths. It is also home to two sculptures that symbolizea Guernika-Lumo's role as a City for Peace. 

One of the sculptures is called "Gure Aitaren Etxea" ("Our Father's House") by Eduardo Chillida and the other is titled "Large Figure in a Shelter" by Henry Moore. 

One of the key sites on any tour of Guernika is the Assembly House and the Tree of Peace, both symbols of the history of the Basque people.  You don't need a reservation to see the old Tree of Peace which is now just as stump in the courtyard surrounding the Assembly Hall, but you do need one if you want to enter the Assembly and get up close and personal to the current Tree of Peace.  Entry is free, but requires you to reserve a time - it's their way of controlling the crowds - which makes sense. 

I had made our reservation for 6:15pm, but since we were trying to get on our way by 6pm to avoid paying more for parking - and since it was very close to the Park we had just came from - we decided to stop by on our way to our car to at least see the old tree.

I am a big beliver in "you don't ask, you don't get" so I walked up to the guard that had let the 4:15pm reservation group in 10 minutes earlier and told him my story - that I had a 6:15pm reservation, but we were going to be gone by then and my family didn't want to go so it would just be me and could he let me in.  Without hesitation he ushered me in giving me instructions on how to get through the self guided tour.  You don't ask, you don't get.

And what did I get?  Well, I honestly wasn't expecting much. I am not big into modern politics in general and even less so in historical politics, but I have to say I was really happy that I went to the Assembly Hall.  It was visually appealing and very interesting from an historical perspective. Each room has a QR code that provides access to a 3 to 5 minute audio explanation of the significance of that room.  Since I wasn't in a scheduled group, I enjoyed a leisurely solo walk through the assembly house listening to each audio recording. 

Ever since the middle ages assemblies have been held at the Assembly House to draw up the laws legislative codes of Bizkaia.  Each municipality in Bizkaia would send one representative to Gernika to discuss specific problems affecting each location. The decisions reached at these parlaiments provided the basis for a code of rules with the force of law which were applicable in the Seigneury of Bizkaia.  The feudal Lord of Bizkaia was also bound by these rules. 

The Assembly House and the area before the Tree are still the venues for many significant events, such as the swearing in of the Basque Premier and the Chief Councillor of Bizkaia.  

The cherry on top was access to the current Tree of Guernika that is othewise viewable only from afar from behind a wrought iron gate. It was special to walk around that tree and contemplate the history involved in its predecessors. 

Then I collected my family and we walked down the hill to our car.  On the way we did a little shopping in the "new town", played in a little kids park, and walked past the jai alai court, that was unfortunately closed.  We also stumbled across the "Agony of Fire" sculpture by Basque artist Nestor Basterretxea that stands on the site where the first bombs dropped by German and Italian planes fell on the town. 

On our way out we drove past the Astra building, a former armaments factory and air raid shelter. 

For me this was one of the highlights of our stay in Basque Country.  I am a history buff so all of this was interesting to me and it was all easily consumable in a day trip.