Las Encartaciones museum (former Casa de Juntas of Abellaneda)

Las Encartaciones museum is located in the former Casa de Juntas or Assembly House of Abellaneda.

Opened as a museum in 1934, it took its current name and form after refurbishment in 1994, becoming a modern museum with ten rooms showing the development of the county of Las Encartaciones from prehistory to the mid-19th century.

Since then it has been devoted to studying the history, ethnography, art and heritage of Las Encartaciones, through research, exhibitions, publications, cultural events, educational activities, cultural routes, acquiring heritage and so on.

The Casa de Juntas of Abellaneda was the place where representatives of the councils and valleys of Las Encartaciones met up to the early 19th century. The first mention of these assemblies dates from 1394, but the current building was started in the 16th century.

The Casa de Juntas evolved over the years, especially in the 18th century, when the house of the Teniente Corregidor or Lieutenant Magistrate (now the museum offices) and the Posada de los Junteros or accommodation for the representatives (now a restaurant) were built, the latter on the site of an early chapel.

In 1801 the assemblies stopped meeting and the building began to decline, until a first rebuilding in 1901 and a second in 1931. Finally, between 1942 and 1957, it took on its current appearance, when an extra floor, battlements, numerous windows and a spiral staircase inside were added. In 1994 the building was again rebuilt inside to house a modern museum, with a spacious new extension added at the front for a reception area and the temporary activity spaces.

This Casa de Juntas is, together with those of Gernika and Gerediaga, the property and official seat of the Bizkaia provincial authority, known as the oldest parliament in Europe and symbolising the continuity of Basque traditions.

Free entrance.