Ziortza-Bolibar
Encyclopedia
Ziortza-Bolibar is a municipality
in the province of Biscay
, Basque Country
(Spain
), in the comarca
of Lea-Artibai
. It has 383 inhabitants according to the 2006 census, and has an area of 18.94 km².
The municipality was annexed in 1969 by Markina-Xemein
and recovered its independence on January 1, 2005. Records indicate its existence since the 11th century.
ziaurri (historically *zinaurri) and the suffix -tza denoting a place of abundance of something.
) is the urban centre of the municipality, situated along the stream with the same name, at the feet of mount Oiz
.
From 1969 to 2004 it belonged, along with the neighbourhood of Cenarruza (Ziortza in Basque) to the municipality of Markina-Xemein
, until a community movement managed to merge both neighbourhoods into an independent municipality.
The last name Bolívar has its origins in this locality; Simón Bolívar de la Rementería, a colonist born in this neighbourhood, took it from Europe
to America
, where his famous descendant Simón Bolívar
, one of the Liberators of America
made it famous around the world. There are a couple of statues and a museum in his honour; there was a family house in Rementería, behind the local church, but it does not exist anymore.
Other illustrious people from this small village are: Diego de Irusta, who participated in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
; the abbots of the Collegiate church of Cenarruza; Diego and Bernardino de Irusta; the general Francisco de Longa
, hero of the Spanish Independence War
; and the general Pedro de Zubiaur
.
The Collegiate Church de Cenarruza or Ziortza is located at roughly two kilometers from the urban nucleus. It was an important enclave in the Route of Santiago de Compostela
, and its influence extended beyond the comarca and surpassed the religious scope.
Tradition marks its founding in the 10th century with a legend, according to which on the day of the Assumption
of the year 968 the local inhabitants held a mass in the Church of Santa Lucia de Garay
, when an eagle picked up a skull from an opened tomb and dropped it in the place where the Collegiate Church is situated today. The people understood this event to be a sign and raised the religious complex in that place.
The complex consists of:
There was a hospital for pilgrims that was destroyed in a fire and was subsequently rebuilt as a hostel managed by Cirtercian monks and property of the monastery of Oliva in Navarra. There are remains of a walkway which formed part of the Santiago Route.
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...
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...
, 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...
), in the comarca
Comarca
A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...
of Lea-Artibai
Lea-Artibai
Lea-Artibai is a comarca of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. Lea-Artibai is the heir of the historical merindad of Markina, which was one of the merindades of Biscay. Currently, Lea-Artibai is one of the seven comarcas that compose the province. Its capital city is...
. It has 383 inhabitants according to the 2006 census, and has an area of 18.94 km².
The municipality was annexed in 1969 by Markina-Xemein
Markina-Xemein
Markina-Xemein is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, Bizkaia, in the Basque Autonomous Community, also known as the Basque Country, located in northern Spain. The origin of the town's name lies in its geographic location. The last town in the province of Bizkaia, Markina...
and recovered its independence on January 1, 2005. Records indicate its existence since the 11th century.
Etymology
The name Bolibar comes from the Basque language, meaning "windmill valley" (bolu = "windmill" and ibar = "valley"). Ziortza/Cenarruza is derived from a local name for polygonumPolygonum
Polygonum is a genus in the Polygonaceae family. Common names include knotweed, knotgrass, bistort, tear-thumb, mile-a-minute, and several others. In the Middle English glossary of herbs "Alphita" , it was known as ars-smerte. There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be...
ziaurri (historically *zinaurri) and the suffix -tza denoting a place of abundance of something.
Puebla de Bolívar
Bolívar o Bolibar (in BasqueBasque 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...
) is the urban centre of the municipality, situated along the stream with the same name, at the feet of mount Oiz
Oiz
Mount Oiz , is one of the most popular summits of Biscay in the Basque Country . Its summits form part of a long range that feeds several rivers: Ibaizabal, Artibai, Lea, Oka and Deva in Gipuzkoa all of them running to the Bay of Biscay....
.
From 1969 to 2004 it belonged, along with the neighbourhood of Cenarruza (Ziortza in Basque) to the municipality of Markina-Xemein
Markina-Xemein
Markina-Xemein is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, Bizkaia, in the Basque Autonomous Community, also known as the Basque Country, located in northern Spain. The origin of the town's name lies in its geographic location. The last town in the province of Bizkaia, Markina...
, until a community movement managed to merge both neighbourhoods into an independent municipality.
The last name Bolívar has its origins in this locality; Simón Bolívar de la Rementería, a colonist born in this neighbourhood, took it from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to America
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, where his famous descendant Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
, one of the Liberators of America
Libertadores
Libertadores refers to the principal leaders of the Latin American wars of independence from Spain. They are named that way in contrast with the Conquistadors, who were so far the only Spanish peoples recorded in the South American history...
made it famous around the world. There are a couple of statues and a museum in his honour; there was a family house in Rementería, behind the local church, but it does not exist anymore.
Other illustrious people from this small village are: Diego de Irusta, who participated in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Arab history as the Battle of Al-Uqab , took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain...
; the abbots of the Collegiate church of Cenarruza; Diego and Bernardino de Irusta; the general Francisco de Longa
Francisco de Longa
Francisco Tomás de Anchia Longa was a Spanish guerrilla He was born April 10, 1783 in the village of Longa Mallabia . A blacksmith by trade, he and 100 men enganged the French in guerilla warfare, attacking the lines of communication around Pancorbo, Orduña and Valdeajos. From these humble...
, hero of the Spanish Independence War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
; and the general Pedro de Zubiaur
Pedro de Zubiaur
Pedro de Zubiaur, Zubiaurre or Çubiaurre was a Spanish soldier and sailor of the Anglo-Spanish War who started his naval career in 1568 and won several victories over the English for Philip II of Spain, the most famous of them during the relief of Blaye...
.
The Collegiate Church of Cenarruza
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
, and its influence extended beyond the comarca and surpassed the religious scope.
Tradition marks its founding in the 10th century with a legend, according to which on the day of the Assumption
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
of the year 968 the local inhabitants held a mass in the Church of Santa Lucia de Garay
Garay
Garai is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain.-External links:*...
, when an eagle picked up a skull from an opened tomb and dropped it in the place where the Collegiate Church is situated today. The people understood this event to be a sign and raised the religious complex in that place.
The complex consists of:
- The church, originally built in the 14th century but continually rebuilt until it obtained, in the 15th century, the GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style it currently has. In its interior there is a magnificent organ, one of the most ancient in Biscay, and a large group of sculptures. The porticoPorticoA portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
has curious carvings in its beams, and the front door has a group of sculptures representing Jesus Christ and two musician angels. - The cloisterCloisterA cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
, built in the RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
period. It has a square floor-plan, and the spandrels are decorated with shells and Fleur-de-lisFleur-de-lisThe fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
crosses. - The Eastern Gate is the main entrance to the religious complex. It bears the coat-of-arms of the MúgicaMuxikaMuxika is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain.-External links:*...
and Butrón families, as well as an image of the legendary eagle holding the skull in its claws.
- The Western Gate, smaller than the Eastern one but bearing the same coat-of-arms and the same image of the eagle.
There was a hospital for pilgrims that was destroyed in a fire and was subsequently rebuilt as a hostel managed by Cirtercian monks and property of the monastery of Oliva in Navarra. There are remains of a walkway which formed part of the Santiago Route.
Other monuments in Bolívar
- Church of Saint ThomasThomas the ApostleThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, built in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 17th and 18th century. It has the structure of a fortress-temple, with only one naveNaveIn Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and a rib vaultRib vaultThe intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction...
, as well as two cylindrical towers. The altarpiece is neoclassicalNeoclassicismNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
. - The government of VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
erected a monument in the honours of the "Liberator" (Simón Bolívar) in 1927, the first one in Spain.