This stone palace is the Arriaga Theatre, opened on 31 May 1890 with Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda”. It is named after Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, a Bilbao-born composer nicknamed “the Spanish Mozart”, who died in Paris in 1826 before reaching the age of twenty.

1A town under siege

An earlier theatre stood on this very spot from 1834 and suffered during the Carlist sieges. Liberal, trade-minded Bilbao was besieged in 1835, in 1836 and again in 1874. The last siege lasted more than two months: the town was shelled from the surrounding hills and went hungry until 2 May 1874, when the troops that broke the blockade marched in. Miguel de Unamuno, then nine years old, told the story in his novel “Peace in War”.

2Fire and water

Architect Joaquín Rucoba designed the new theatre with electric light and the curious option of listening to performances by telephone for a fee. A fire destroyed it in December 1914 and it reopened in 1919. On 26 August 1983, in the middle of the city’s big August festival, the river overflowed: the water reached the Arriaga’s second floor. The flood killed dozens of people across northern Spain and changed Bilbao’s relationship with its river for ever. The theatre reopened in 1986.

3What to look for

  • The caryatids on the facade, which earned the building a cheeky nickname among locals.
  • The central balcony, from which the festival’s opening speech is given.
  • The clock and lyre beneath the curved pediment.

Documented

Joaquín Rucoba’s theatre opened on 31 May 1890, was rebuilt after the 1914 fire and was hit by the flood of 26 August 1983, which reached its second floor.

Sources and credits

Arriaga Theatre, history of the building (teatroarriaga.eus); Miguel de Unamuno, “Paz en la guerra” (1897); Basque Government, reports on the 1983 floods.

Photos:

  • Neo-Baroque facade of the Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao, with green domes and trees in the foreground: José Luis Filpo Cabana, CC BY 3.0.

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