Intxaurrondo

Intxaurrondo means walnut-tree in Basque. The access gate to the town was The Gate of Nogal or Portal de San Martín, the name that the street takes today, "Sanmartinpe Portale".

Intxaurrondo is an "arrabal" that is dark but popular, with long narrow houses of a rural character.

In Kalebarria we find the Municipal Library half-way along, and on the corner of Zeharkalea and Komentukalea, in a niche, the romanist image of the Pieta.

Komentukalea, or "Convent Street", takes its name from the Convent of Santa Susana and the Monastery of San Francisco.

In the Plaza Balbino Garitaonaindia we see a sculpture, "Zezenak Dira", the grand Caserío Intxaurre and the rear of the Lejarza House, the façade of which we see in Plaza Santa Ana.

Biblioteca Municipal

You gain access to the Municipal Library from both Komentukalea and Kalebarria, a building which once housed a primary school.

A modest neo-classical building, it was designed in 1826 by Martin Echaburu as a boys' school, and four years later it was adapted to take girls as well.
Up until then the school lessons were imparted, with all the imaginable inconveniences, in the meeting rooms of the Town Hall.

In 2009 it was reformed and enlarged to accommodate the New Municipal Library and the Municipal Archives, which include medieval documents, historical records, minutes of meetings, registers, accounts since the XVI century, official publications and petitions, etc.

Practical Information

La Pietat

This image from the XVI century, which once stood at the Piedad Gate, is all that remains of this access to the town.

Convento de Santa Susana

The Convent of Santa Susana was founded in 1586 by a community of Augustinian nuns. It was destroyed during the bombardment of Durango, and rebuilt after the Civil War.

It still retains some of the original elements, such as the columned porch with triple arch, forming the main entrance, the niche between two pilasters which housed an image of Santa Susana, and the bell tower which is aligned with the façade.

Monasterio de San Francisco

In ancient documents was known as San Antonio. It is the oldest convent in the town, and it was the first Franciscan establishment in Bizkaia.

The Convent was founded in 1439, although it was only declared a closed convent towards the end of the XVI century. It is believed to have stood behind the Church of Santa Ana.

The portal and the tower of the church, built at the end of the XIX century by Martín Guridi y Garamendi, are interesting examples of the neo-romanic revival in Bizkaia.

Zezenak Dira

This sculpture represents one of the oldest traditions, going back more than 400 years. Today the local festival of "San Fausto" is celebrated each year on the 13th October. A young bull, with a long rope round his neck, is released in the streets of Durango, finally ending up in the Plaza Santa Ana.

Caserío Intxaurre

In the Plaza Balbino Garitaonaindia we can see an interesting building from the XVII century, which combines both rural and urban features, a practice that was often encountered in the "arrabales" and other parts close to the nucleus of the town.