March 18, 2009

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

STATELY HOMES AND PALACES OF NAVARRA

Palaces and Town Councils in the Basque Country. Similarities and differences with Navarre

Mr. Juan Manuel González Cembellín
Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art (Bilbao)

Although the existence of palaces in the Basque Country is documented since the eleventh century, until the early sixteenth century we lack data on its formal appearance. Then, when the wars of factions were over and the Economics was reactivated, several palace models combining Gothic and Renaissance forms were tested.

All of them sought an improvement in the quality of life of its inhabitants with respect to the towers of the flagship towers through resources such as increasing the usable area, the expansion of issue and size of the openings, the individualization of the rooms... At the same time, the improvement of the building's image was sought, for which the main façade was given priority over the others (quality of the material, issue and size of openings, ornamentation, regularization of windows...), trying to monumentalize it. Another characteristic common to all the options tested was the scarce presence of courtyards, thus rejecting the more common model in Spain from the 16th century onwards.

The most successful typology had a landscape volume, lateralized access on the first floor, a main floor divided between a living room in the front area and some rooms (kitchen, bedrooms...) at the back, and a cabin; communication between floors was by means of a single flight staircase attached to a lateral façade (Negorta, Ayala, Álava...).

To this model also responds the oldest preserved town hall in the Basque Country: the old town hall (Kontzeillu zahar) of Usurbil (Gipuzkoa).

The fully Renaissance palaces would extend the model, but increasing the general dimensions of the building and, in the most outstanding cases, the decoration (Loviano, Ermua, Bizkaia). There were very few palaces with Italian-style cortile (Escoriaza-Esquível, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava).
 

Negorta. Ayala, Alava
 

The baroque palace was characterized externally by the regularization of its always austere main facade (the most common were three floors with three streets of openings, highlighting the central axes). On the south-facing side there was a gallery of arches. The interior was arranged around the centralized staircase, often topped by a lantern (Tola, Elorrio, Bizkaia). In some cases these palaces are flanked by towers (Lazcano, Lazkao, Gipuzkoa).
In rural areas there were frequent examples with porches (Saroe, Usurbil, Gipuzkoa). And in the basins of the Deba and Urola rivers, those with part of their walls made of brick are surprisingly abundant (Txurrukoa, Azkoitia, Gipuzkoa).
A good issue of Basque town halls also correspond to this style, characterized by the presence of wide arcades on the floors leave, usually opening onto a place (Labastida, Alava).
It is not easy to establish these similarities and differences between these constructions and their Navarrese parallels. In any case, we can say that the internship totality of the palace typologies found in the Basque Country also exist in Navarre. Although it does not seem that the references are the same: in Navarre the French influence sometimes and that of the middle valley of the Ebro many other times are very evident, while in the Basque Country Castile was the main focus.
On the other hand, in the Basque Country there seems to be a greater density of palaces, although the quality average is more modest than in Navarre.
Moreover, in Navarre the courtyard is more frequent, the use of brick is more abundant and the ornamentation is more profuse.
 

Tola. Elorrio, Bizkaia