Elorrio

Elorrio as it exists today is a merger of two originally separate places: the town itself, founded in 1356, and the older parish district of San Agustín de Echevarría, which joined it in 1635. Before that union, each had its own seat and vote in different assemblies — the town at the Juntas de Guernica (seat number 13) and the parish at the Juntas de Guerediaga (seat number 3).

The area's human story goes back much further. Neighbouring municipalities have archaeological remains predating the Neolithic, and within Elorrio's own boundaries several funerary stelae and burial sites have been found. The most significant concentration is at Arguiñeta, where a necropolis contains elements dated to 893 AD, at the very dawn of Christianity in this region. The stelae themselves are older and pre-Christian. The monastery of San Agustín de Echevarría was founded on 11 February 1053 and went through Romanesque and then Gothic phases; it is the Gothic form that survives today.

The town's founding in 1356 had two practical aims: to create a counterweight to the power of the local nobility, and to defend the Señorío against neighbouring Gipuzkoan territories. The factional wars of the era came to a head here in 1468, when the Ibarra family of the Oñacino faction clashed with the Marzana family of the Gamboíno faction in what is known as the Battle of Elorrio.

The early modern centuries brought considerable wealth. Local families were active traders with the New World, and the money they brought back was invested in buildings — accounting for the more than twenty palaces and sixty-nine heraldic shields still visible across town. The main church, the largest in Vizcaya, was built between 1459 and 1506. The town also manufactured weapons for the Spanish Tercios; a 1575 report records that it supplied 3,000 pikes and 1,500 lances every month.

By the nineteenth century Elorrio had become a modest spa destination, attracting nobility for summer stays. The Augustinian Assumptionists arrived in 1907. In 1923 Bishop Manuel González García visited and met the Count and Countess of Láriz, at whose house he returned to spend summers from 1926 onwards. In 1964 Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer also stayed here; the Láriz family house is now used for Opus Dei retreats. After the Civil War, with the spa era over, the town joined the broader industrialisation of the Duranguesado comarca.

The town centre was declared a protected historic-artistic ensemble in 1964, and the density of monuments within it is striking.

The Arguiñeta Necropolis brings together 23 sarcophagi — one of them double — dating from the 9th century, plus three earlier stelae of pre-Christian origin, gathered here from the surrounding hermitages where similar tombs can still be found.

The Berriozabaleta Fountain is one of the more unusual pieces of public architecture in the area. A neoclassical work designed by architect Miguel de Elcoro Bereceybar, it was commissioned by Manuel Plácido de Berriozabalbeitia, a judge who had served in Peru and returned to Spain after Peruvian independence in 1828. He had it built for his wife, who was of Inca origin, and local tradition holds that the fountain echoes the stonework of that culture. The approach is carefully designed — a cobbled road flanked by stone pillars every five metres leads down to a semicircular terrace where the fountain stands at the centre. A lion's-head metal spout feeds a rectangular basin, with two lateral thermal openings reached by three steps. Behind it, a semicircular wash-house is ringed by seven benches set into the terrace parapet. Between 1832 and 1833 Berriozabalbeitia also built a rural palace beside the fountain and relocated the chapel of Santa Catalina nearby. The fountain was restored in 1992 and 1993 by the Diputación Foral de Vizcaya.

Among the palaces, four stand out. The Arezpakoetxea Palace (1620) was built by demolishing part of the town wall and three medieval plots; it backs onto the Campo gate, one of the original six town gates, and carries a fine corner heraldic shield. Its service house bears a Latin verse from the Song of Songs on its façade. The Arespakotxaga Azkarraga Palace (1666) was built by Juan de Arespakotxaga y Azkarraga, a knight of the Order of Santiago and secretary to King Philip IV on the Council of War; its main façade displays the arms of four family lines. The Zearsolo Palace, known as Casa Jara, was built in two distinct phases, with its plaza-facing façade added in 1934; its ironwork, entrance and gardens are particularly noted. The Olazabal Palace, also called Modet, dates from the late period, has a broad garden, and is distinguished by a stable block in British style marked by a carved horse's head above the entrance.