Zumarraga

Zumarraga charms visitors with its many places of interest, both cultural and gastronomic. Zumarraga has numerous artistic, cultural and religious places that are worth a visit.

In the town centre, we can visit one of the most beautiful examples of civil architecture in town, the arcaded Euskadi square. There are located some important buildings such as the neo-classical town hall from the 19th c. or the Itarte and Uzkanga houses.

In the centre of the square there is a bronze sculpture dedicated to Miguel López de Legazpi, conqueror of the Philippines, realised by Aniceto Marinas. Not far from this point we can visit the conqueror's house: the Legazpi tower-house. It is a fortress from the feudal era, declared historical-artistic monument in 1945. Another interesting building is the church of Santa María de la Asunción, whose architecture is included in the so-called Basque Gothic. It was built in different phases, beginning the building works in 1576. It is an open plan church with three naves of the same height and ribbed vaults. A beautiful arcade leads us to the main Baroque entrance. Inside, we can observe an altarpiece from the 18th c. with gothic and baroque elements.

The hermitages' cathedral

Near Beloki Mountain (641 m), just two kilometres from the town centre, we can visit the hermitage La Antigua, also known as the hermitages' cathedral. This treasure of the religious architecture was declared national historic-artistic monument due to its beauty, in fact, it's surrounded by a wonderful natural environment. La Antigua presents a Romanesque façade with a gothic gate. Inside its perfect mixture of stone and wood will astonish us. La Antigua, which is located near the Loiola basilica in Azpeitia and the Sanctuary of Arantzazu in Oñati, belongs to the famous Route of the Three Churches.

Through this route, we will get to know Urola and Alto Deba regions by visiting these relevant buildings situated in charming spots. Furthermore, the different mountains surrounding the area offer a lot of interesting routes, e.g. from La Antigua we can get to some megalithic funerary monuments discovered in Zumarraga. Zumarraga celebrates Santa Isabel's festival at the beginning of July. The typical "ezpata-dantza" (sword dance) is performed inside the hermitage of La Antigua. Also on 13th December, day of Santa Lucia, takes place the agriculture and horses fair. Horses and birds contests are celebrated, as well as an exhibition of Basque products, machinery and iron tools.