This museum asked the question, what does it mean to be a Basque? One of the many answers related to the language of the Basque peoples. It is a language isolate with no know relation to Iberian or Indo-European languages. Thus the Basques are considered a distinct non-Indo-European population with deep historical roots predating modern national borders. Another bedrock in Basque culture is family and the activities they share, bowling, stone lifting, fishing and farming. Artifacts relating to all of these items were found in the museum. There is also a shared religion with all the iconography that goes along with that. Lastly there is a rich legacy of an independent state, they repelled invaders repeatedly. They defeated the Franks and the Visigoths. The Romans left them largely intact, they aligned with the Muslims against the church and were not fully christianized until the 14th century. An independent nation, Navarre, was formed and survived in one shape and form until the after effects of the French revolution, Carlist wars and the Spanish civil war brought ti to an end. Franco enacted harsh laws against all minorities in Spain including the Basques. The aim was to wipe out their language and culture. It did not work and this museum is a testament to the spirit of the Basque people
First a collection of doors
A knocker
Hanging on this door
Four stories and a video showcasing each object in this room
Threshing machine
The authors of these arboglyphs carved the verses onto aspen trees in the late 1800's while working as cowboys in the old west. The were written in the Basque script and were brought back to Spain to document the Basque diaspora
Loom gears
Lots of colors
One gigantic stove
If only we had a kitchen big enough
The cloister
The boar and the disc
The calendar indicates it is bacon season
The writing is faded on the Idol of Mikeldi
Who is holding up the panel from behind?
A very nice building to house a museum
An installation by Ra Asensi
A wheely good display
All ready for a game of musical chairs
One determined idol
Lots of primitive crosses
This is a long candle wrapped around and around
Three tall candles
More candle rope
A fine box
Dogs
A donkey
A wolf?
The Black Crowes
Tall hat and long pipe
The important families of the lordship of Viscaya would meet at this site of this tree and vote on the important matters. It is located in Guernica next tot he assembly house
The tree has been replanted many times, this one is from the years 1860 to 2004. The next tree only lasted 10 years
This older tree grew from 1742 to 1892
Fancy canes
Big heads made from paper mache
The big heads and the giants are central to Basque heritage
The big heads run along the streets chasing and interacting with spectators
Adorned with giant cow bells these folks are participating in an eons old pagan tradition of awaking nature. This festival in the rural areas takes place in January
Another rural festival with uniformed militia members paraging and shooting blank cartridges
Thinking about your haloween costume?
Stone cold stone lifters
A exhibition of the strength of the stone masons
The local form of bowling. There are 20 different arrangements of the big pins and the little pin. In some variations the bowler has to hit the little pin first
A bigger bowling ball that could weigh up to 15 pounds
Oar the folks could be out rowing instead of bowling
The top floor after the rain stopped
This display area was made from wood and seemed to be suspended from the ceiling. I can be used to exhibit of a works from different artists that either speak to the permanent collection or are local artists
A very large space stone needed an wooden insert to balance it out
The suspension system
A real life gargoyle?
Very cosy within the wooden insert
Looking out the window to a place across the street
Iron chicken!
I would wear this hat
Shepherd outfit
When your family heirloom shovel breaks...
Mend it woith some copper
Stitch it together with soem cane
A master carver made this
More modern gear systems
A tiny street cleaner and a pair of folks on thier camino
The front of the theater
Passing hte church again
Waiting for our uber, we saw a few actors in period costume
Another eagle riding man
This actor just had to take a call
Perhaps they were filming a funeral scene inside the church
