Zumarraga

Zumarraga is a municipality in Gipuzkoa located in the Alto Urola valley, at the foot of Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park. The valley has a long historical connection to iron-working culture, and traces of old ironworks, mills and dams can still be found across the area.

At the heart of the town, the arcaded Plaza de Euskadi frames the civic life of the municipality. It is home to the 19th-century neoclassical town hall, the Itarte and Uzkanga houses, and a bronze statue of Miguel López de Legazpi, the conquistador of the Philippines and a native of Zumarraga. Nearby stands the Casa-Torre Legazpi, a feudal-era fortified tower declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1945. The parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, built from 1576 in the Basque Gothic style, preserves an 18th-century altarpiece that blends Gothic and Baroque elements.

Two kilometres from the town centre, on the slopes of Mount Beloki, stands the hermitage of La Antigua, known as the cathedral of hermitages. Declared a national historic-artistic monument, it is notable for its austere Romanesque exterior with a Gothic doorway and a striking interior where stone and timber come together in a harmonious structure.