Guernica (city) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay

Biscay

Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...

, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The town of Guernica is united in one municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

with neighbouring Lumo, Gernika-Lumo. The population of the municipality is 16,224 as of 2009.

Guernica is best known to those residing outside the Basque region as the scene of the April 26, 1937, Bombing of Guernica

Bombing of Guernica

The bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, Spain, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths, during the Spanish Civil War...

, one of the first aerial bombing

Strategic bombing

Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...

s by Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

's Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

Early history

The town of Guernica was founded by Count Tello on April 28, 1366, at the intersection of the road from Bermeo to Durango with the road from Bilbao to Elantxobe and Lekeitio. The strategic importance of the site was increased by the fact that it lay on a major river estuary, where vessels could dock at the port of Suso.
In time it took on the typical shape of a Basque town, comprising a series of parallel streets (Goyenkale, Azokekale, Artekale and Barrenkale) and a transverse street called Santa María, with a church at each end of the built-up area.
Life in the town became rigidly structured, with the aim being to preserve the privileges of the dominant middle classes. This pattern continued practically unaltered until the late 17th century.

On a small hillock in the town stands the Meeting House and the famous Tree of Guernica. By ancient tradition, Basques, and indeed other peoples in Medieval Europe, held assemblies under a tree, usually an oak, to discuss matters affecting the community.

In Biscay each administrative district (known as a merindad) had its appointed tree, but over the centuries the Tree of Guernica acquired particular importance. It stood in the parish of Lumo, on a site known as Gernikazarra, beside a small shrine.

The laws of Biscay continued to be drawn up under this tree until 1876, with each town and village in the province sending two representatives to the sessions, known as General Assemblies

Juntas Generales

The Juntas Generales are representative assemblies in the Southern Basque Country that go back to the 14th century. The three main Juntas Generals in the Basque Country were - and are - the Juntas Generales of Biscay, the Juntas Generales of Gipuzkoa and the Juntas Generales of Álava.They were...

. This early form of democracy was recorded by the philosopher Rousseau, by the poet Wordsworth, by the dramatist Tirso de Molina

Tirso de Molina

Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and a Roman Catholic monk.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4, 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara,...

and by the composer Iparraguirre, who wrote the piece called Gernikako Arbola.

When the Domain of Biscay was incorporated into the kingdom of Castile it became customary for the king of Castile to visit Guernica and swear an oath under the Tree promising to uphold the fueros or local laws of Biscay. The oath of King Ferdinand, known as the "Catholic Monarch" on June 30, 1476 is depicted in a painting by Francisco de Mendieta popularly known as El besamanos ("The Royal audience"). On July 3, 1875, during the Carlist Wars

Carlist Wars

The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which contenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. Several times during the period from 1833 to 1876 the Carlists — followers of Infante Carlos and his descendants — rallied to the cry of "God, Country, and King" and...

, the pretender to the throne Don Carlos of the house of Borbón also visited Guernica and swore the oath. Throughout the 19th century there were frequent meetings under the Tree, including both General Assemblies and other political events.

By the 18th century there was a square at the centre of the town, flanked by the town hall, a public gaol housing prisoners from all over the Lordship of Biscay

Lord of Biscay

Lord of Biscay is a historical title of the head of state of the autonomous territory of Biscay, Basque Country.- History :The first known Lord of Biscay , Íñigo López "Ezkerra" was a lieutenant of the Kingdom of Pamplona , and this was until the Castilian conquest of Gipuzkoa in 1200...

, a hospital and a poor-house for local people. Day to day life comprised agriculture (growing of cereals, vegetable and fruit), crafts (menders, tailors, cobblers, flax manufacturers) and trade (transportation and sale of goods and produce).

This was also a time of continual conflicts with the neighbouring parish of Lumo over disputed land. These disputes were not finally settled until 1882, when the two parishes joined together to form Gernika-Lumo.

The first industrial concerns were set up in the early years of the 20th century. This encouraged population growth, and the town grew from 4,500 inhabitants in 1920 to 6,000 in 1936.

Modern history

On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, Guernica was the scene of the Bombing of Guernica

Bombing of Guernica

The bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, Spain, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths, during the Spanish Civil War...

by the Condor Legion

Condor Legion

The Condor Legion was a unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force and from the German Army which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legion developed methods of terror bombing which were used widely in the Second World War...

of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

's Luftwaffe. 1654 civilians were killed according to the official Basque figures, but the German sources report a round figure of 300 civilians killed in the bombing, according to the German Bundeswehr Magazine (published in April 2007, page 94). The Germans were attacking to support the efforts of Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

to overthrow the Basque

Lehendakari

The President of the Basque Government , usually known in English as the Basque regional president, is the head of government of Basque Country. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....

Government and the Spanish Republic

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

an government. The town was devastated, though the Biscayan assembly and the Oak of Guernica survived. Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

painted his famous "Guernica" painting

Guernica (painting)

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War...

to commemorate the horrors of the bombing and René Iché

René Iché

For the town in Morocco see Iche, MoroccoRené Iché was a 20th century French sculptor.-Life and work:...

made a violent sculpture the day after the bombing.

Celebrations were staged in 1966 to mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of the town. As part of these celebrations a statue of Count Tello, made by local sculptor Agustín Herranz, was set up in the Fueros square.

At present Gernika-Lumo has 16.244 (2009) inhabitants. It is a town with a prosperous service sector which is also home to industrial companies and has good cultural and educational amenities. It is a town with a promising future.

Cultural importance

Guernica is historically the seat of the parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

of the province of Biscay, whose executive branch is located in nearby Bilbao

Bilbao

Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...

.

In prior centuries, Lumo had been the meeting place of the traditional Biscayan assembly, Urduña

Orduña

Orduña is a town and municipality of 4,057 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the North of Spain....

and chartered towns

Municipal charter

A city charter or town charter is a legal document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the middle ages....

like Guernica were under the direct authority of the Lord of Biscay

Lord of Biscay

, and Enkarterri and the Durango area had separate assemblies. All would hold assemblies under local big trees.

As time passed, the role of separate assemblies was superseded by the single assembly in Guernica, and by 1512, its oak, known as the Gernikako Arbola

Gernikako Arbola

Gernikako Arbola is an oak tree that symbolizes traditional freedoms for the Biscayan people, and by extension for the Basque people as a whole...

, became symbolic of the traditional rights of the Basque people

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

as a whole.

The trees are always renewed from their own acorns. One of these trees (the "Old Tree") lived until the 19th century, and may be seen, as a dry stump, near the assembly house. A tree planted in 1860 to replace it died in 2004 and was in turn replaced; the sapling that had been chosen to become the official Oak of Guernica is also sick so the tree will not be replaced until the earth around the site has been restored to health.

A hermitage was built beside the Gernikako Arbola to double as an assembly place, followed by the current house of assembly (Biltzar Jauregia in Basque

Basque language

Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

), built in 1826.

Symbol for peace

On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the town was razed to the ground by German aircraft belonging to the Condor Legion, sent by Hitler to support Franco's troops. For almost four hours bombs rained down on Gernika in an "experiment" for the blitzkrieg tactics and bombing of civilians seen in later wars.

In 1987 the 50th anniversary of the bombing was commemorated as the town hosted the Preliminary Congress of the World Association of Martyr Cities. The full congress was held subsequently in Madrid, bringing together representatives of cities all over the world. Since then, Gernika-Lumo has been a member of this association. 1988 saw the setting up of the monument Gure Aitaren Etxea, by Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, and in 1990 Large Figure in a Shelter, by British sculptor Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

, was erected beside it. These monuments are symbolic of Gernika-Lumo as a city of peace.

As part of the "Symbol for Peace" movement, Gernika has twinned with several towns, including Berga (Catalonia - 1986), Pforzheim (Germany - 1988) and Boise (Idaho, USA - 1993). The twinning agreements include co-operation in the fields of culture, education and industry.

Market day

There is a popular saying in Guernica which runs as follows: "lunes gerniqués, golperik ez". This translates roughly as "not a stroke of work gets done on Mondays". The Monday market day has for decades been considered as a holiday in the town.
People would flock to Guernica not just from the immediate vicinity but from all over the province, so that the town was packed. They came not just to buy or sell at the produce market but also to eat at the town's renowned restaurants and afterwards perhaps to watch a pelota game at the local court. The Monday market has been fulfilling its age-old function of bringing people together since the times when people could not afford to travel far and it provided them with a chance to socialise.

Sports

Jai alai

Jai alai is a sport involving a ball bounced off a walled space. It is a variety of Basque Pelota. The term, coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also often loosely applied to the fronton where the sport is played...

is a form of pelota. The Guernica jai alai court is the biggest operational court of its type in the world. It was designed by Secundino Zuano, one of Spain's leading architects of the 20th century and first opened in 1963. It is acknowledged by players of the game to be the finest court in the world.

Bare-handed pelota are staged at the Santanape court. This is the most popular form of the sport.

Main sights

Parish Church of Santa María. Work on this church, at the top of the town, began in 1418 in a Gothic style, and continued non-stop until 1625, though the finishing touches were not completed until 1715, in the Renaissance period.

Church of Santa María de la Antigua. Built in 1826-33 by Antonio de Echevarría in the purest Neo-classical style, this building contains within it the Church of Santa María la Antigua, which is presently used as the plenary meeting hall of the General Assemblies of Biscay.
Park of the Peoples of Europe. This contains examples of all 4 types of woodland found on the Basque coast: beech woods, oak woods, holm-oak woods and riverside brush. It also gathers the H.Moore and Chillida's sculptures and the Humboldt's bronze head.
"Large Figure in a Shelter" (1986) by the sculptor Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

. This sculpture is typical of the themes and style of this artist, and the most significant example of his "inside/outside" motif. Cast in bronze, it weighs around 20 tonnes.
Monument to Peace, by the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. This figure, set up on April 27, 1988, was commissioned by the Basque Government to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica. The title in Basque means "Our Father's House", and the work stands looking towards the Tree (the symbol of Basque traditions and history) as a monument to peace.
Palacio de Alegría mansion house. This mansion was rebuilt in its entirety in the mid 18th century. All that remains of the earlier building is a loop-hole and one window. It is built in the typical urban Baroque style with an ashlar-work façade, trellised balconies and the coat of arms of the Allende Salazar family. This mansion house now houses the Museum of the Basque Country, whose exhibits highlight physical, political, economic and linguistic features of Basque History and renowned Basque personages.
Guernica Peace Museum Foundation, a museum of the history of Guernica. The exhibits on show illustrate what Guernica has represented throughout its history for the Basques (democracy, local legal system, freedom) and what it stands for today all over the world (human rights, peace). The Gernika Peace Museum is a theme museum setting out the culture of peace. It was inspired by the tragic bombing of Gernika on 26 April 1937.
Euskal Herria Museum, housed in the palace of Alegria or Montefuerte, a 1733 baroque reconstruction of an ancient medieval tower. Set in the historical heart of Gernika-Lumo, it survived the 1937 bombing. The Museum is located near the Casa de Juntas (old Assembly House), the Tree of Gernika and surrounded by old gardens now turned into the Parque de los Pueblos de Europa (Park of the European Nations). The Regional Council of Bizkaia acquired the site in 1982 and refurbished it as a Museum with the aim of presenting an exhibition to promote the understanding of the historical, political and cultural meaning of the spiritual community of Euskal Herria.
Reproduction of Picasso's Guernica. A mosaic of tiles which depicts in puzzle form Picasso's great work Guernica, the original of which is currently on display at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. The inscription beneath this impressive mural expresses the desire of local people for the original canvas to be put on display in the town which inspired its creation: Guernica.

Sister cities

Pforzheim

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

Boise

Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.