Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ditions have lived much, much longer than a single tree's life span. When one dies, it's
replaced with a new one. This is the oldest surviving trunk.
The exhibit has four parts: a stained-glass window room, the oak-tree courtyard, the
assembly chamber, and a basement theater (request the 10-minute video in English that
extols the virtues and beauties of the Basque Country).
Inside the main building, request a copy of the English-language brochure that de-
scribesindetailtheimportanceofthissite.Firstfindtheimpressive
stained-glass window
room.
The computer video here gives a good six-minute overview of the exhibit (plays
in English when you click). The gorgeous stained-glass ceiling is rife with Basque sym-
bolism. The elderly leader stands under the oak holding a book with the “Old Law”
(Lege
Zarra),
whicharethelawsbywhichtheBasqueslivedforcenturies.Belowhimaregroups
representing the three traditional career groups of this industrious people: sailors and fish-
ermen; miners and steelworkers; and farmers. Behind them all is a classic Basque land-
scape: On the left is the sea, and on the right are rolling green hills dotted with red-and-
white homes. Small, square panels around the large window represent all the important
towns in the region, with Guernica's oak tree easy to pinpoint.
Out back, a Greek-style tribune surrounds the fateful
oak tree.
This little fella is
from 2005, planted when the earlier one “finished out its life cycle” after standing here for
