Zumarraga Town Hall
Culture [Civil Sculpture]
The Town's Coat of Arms
This coat of arms was commissioned in 1764. It consists of a crowned elm with two crosses on either side. Under the tree are three gold ingots against an azure field.
The original sits on a large pedestal located in the square that was built following the demolition of the old town hall in the Plaza de Navarra nº 1.
“The Angel of Life” and “The Angel of Death”
Symbolic statues that at the same time adorn the dark, unnerving presence in the crypt of the cemetery. Their sculptor, Vicente Larrea, has produced an evocative display with respect to the proportions, setting, movements and portrayal of the figure of an Angel, interpreted at all times from a contemporary perspective. Two meanings converge in these figures: that of the Angel in the strict sense of the word and that of the funeral setting in which it was destined to be placed.
“The Angel of Death,” complete and free-standing, is a free stylisation of the figure of an Angel, but without ceasing to be one. It is Larrea’s first attempt at a complete human figure with the eschatological addition of the wings. It is built of a sheet of a constant thickness which, by means of folds, hollows and convexities, gives shape to the body of the statue, or to the tangible part of the body. This is because the image is in actual fact complemented by the space that surrounds it and thus shaped by a fictitious bulk formed by the sheet of metal and its vacuum, its skin and its shade. It is therefore a totally Baroque image, as far as its meaning is concerned.
Statue of Miguel López de Legazpi
A bronze statue on a stone pedestal made by the sculptor Aniceto Marinas and inaugurated on 2 October, 1897, in the midst of festivities organised in the town for the purpose.
The expenses incurred by its construction were covered not only by the Queen Regent, who contributed 2,500 pesetas, but also by public institutions and numerous inhabitants of Zumarraga who generously contributed towards it.
In a figurative style it represents a Roman Catholic and a colonizer at the height of his career defeating an idol (he is crushing a mask with his foot).
Bust of Ignacio Busca Sagastizabal
A bust placed at the foot of the buildings which preserve the name of this Mayor and composer, who was born in Zumarraga.
It represents, figuratively, a mature man who achieved fame outside our town, mainly because he was responsible for composing the “Himno Eucarístico” (Hymn for the Eucharist) of the 22nd International Congress “Cantemos al amor de los amores, cantemos al Señor” (“Let us sing to the love of loves, let us sing to the Lord”). He was also the author of famous choral pieces performed by Basque choral societies. The ones that stand out are the “Bi eusko abesti” (two Basque songs).
Basque Pelota Player
A free-standing sculpture of iron on a stone pedestal, which is the work of the Ondarru (Bizkaia)-born Miguel Angel Lertxundi.
Rather than in the actual artistic details of the sculpture, among which the simplicity of line accompanied by an abstraction of features unavoidably stand out, we have to seek its best explanation in the symbology that emerges, owing to its location in this very place (the Basque pelota court), and also in the pose of the figure represented (the point of impact between his hand and the ball).
Goruntz
This sculpture is the work of José Ramón Anda and is made of cast bronze ten metres high and with a diameter ranging between fifty centimetres and one metre ten centimetres.
Built with a deliberate vertical design so as not to get in the way of the traffic that necessary has to pass through this place, the Kalebarren-Areizaga square that forms the link between the two towns of Zumarraga and Urretxu, it nevertheless firmly asserts its presence in this very specific geographical spot.
The rough cut of the work in the upper section contrasts with its base, and although it does not lose stability at any point it does give a sensation, when we look at it, that is could fall at any moment. Perhaps the symbology and significance of a work which for all these reasons is reminiscent of the relations between the two towns linked to each other were hovering in the artist’s subconscious after he had acquired the exact reports on the square and geographical location where the work was going to be erected.
Itziar
A sculpture by Jorge Oteiza made up of polyhedra four metres high and five metres wide weighing six tonnes using three-millimetre thick sheet metal.
It was named after the wife of the sculptor, Itziar Carreño, now deceased, and is a project that had its beginnings in 1959.
In the words of Oteiza himself, it displays the play of light and shade produced by the different faces and spaces of the sculpture, and its peaks and hollows depict the countryside of Gipuzkoa with its towns, valleys and rivers.
Despite its massive size, it gives a sensation of lightness and defiance of gravity.
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