Bilbao City Hall

Before you stands Bilbao’s City Hall, opened on 17 April 1892. It is the fourth the town has had: the first ones stood opposite San Antón, and two of them were swept away by 16th-century floods. This one was built on the site of the convent of San Agustín, left in ruins after the First Carlist War.

1Iron money

The building, by Joaquín Rucoba, the same architect as the Arriaga, is a showcase of the Bilbao that was being born. From 1876 the iron mines of the Triano hills could be worked freely, and the river filled with ships taking ore to Britain and returning with coal. Out of that two-way trade came the steelworks that merged in 1902 as Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, for much of the 20th century the largest company in Spain. Its last blast furnace closed in 1996.

On the facade, five reliefs honour illustrious Bilbao figures, starting with the founder, Diego López V de Haro. According to local tradition, the fifth step of the staircase marks Bilbao’s official altitude.

2Towards the sea

From here the estuary runs some fifteen kilometres to the bay. At its mouth, the Vizcaya Bridge, opened in 1893 between Portugalete and Getxo, was the world’s first transporter bridge and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

3What to look for

• Jorge Oteiza’s sculpture in front of the facade, an open steel sphere.
• The reliefs of Bilbao figures above the arches.
• The City Hall Bridge, a lifting bridge right next to the building.