What to See and Do

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Described as the best building of the second half of the twentieth century, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has completely transformed Bilbao, putting the city on the world map and changing its image. Opened in 1997, it was designed by American architect Frank Gehry, who, after visiting the city, was very clear about its location. "That's the place", he exclaimed after observing a view of Bilbao from Mount Artxanda. That place was the site of the former Compañía de Maderas timber company, on the left bank of the river. As the architect himself explained, the design is based "on the port that it was and the city it is", symbolizing a ship anchored on the banks of the Nervión. The titanium cladding means that you see, at any time of day, the colours that the light projects onto it.

Almost 9 meters tall, Maman is one of the most ambitious of a series of sculptures by Bourgeois that take as their subject the spider, a motif that first appeared in several of the artist's drawings in the 1940s and came to assume a central place in her work during the 1990s.
Intended as a tribute to her mother, who was a weaver, Bourgeois's spiders are highly contradictory as emblems of maternity: they suggest both protector and predator—the silk of a spider is used both to construct cocoons and to bind prey—and embody both strength and fragility.
Such ambiguities are powerfully figured in the mammoth Maman, which hovers ominously on legs like Gothic arches that act at once as a cage and as a protective lair to a sac full of eggs perilously attached to her undercarriage. The spider provokes awe and fear, yet her massive height, improbably balanced on slender legs, conveys an almost poignant vulnerability.

The origin of the current museum is in the first Fine Arts Museum, founded in 1908 and opened in 1914 and the Modern Art Museum, opened in 1924. Both institutions and their collections were united in 1945, the year that the old building was constructed.
The collection of the Fine Arts Museum, which opened in 1914, brings together over seven thousand works of art, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper and applied arts, with an outstanding heritage spanning from the twelfth century to the present.
It contains important examples of ancient, modern and contemporary painting and has a special interest in the Spanish school of art and in Basque artists, by whom it has a large collection of works.

Santiago Cathedral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015 as part of the Pilgrims’ Route to Santiago de Compostela. Built in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, it is considered one of the finest Gothic manifestations of the Basque Country.
Santiago Cathedral is dedicated to St James the Apostle, the patron saint of Bilbao since 1643.
Of particular interest are the small Gothic cloister, the Door of the Angel (also known as the Door of the Pilgrims and an example of Late Gothic) and its tower.
Majestically beautiful, we encourage you to go inside and discover what it has inside.

Plaza Nueva

Apart from its architectural value (it is a good example of Roman neoclassical purity) the Plaza Nueva has the character of an urban reference point. This is helped by the colonnade and arches, where the restaurants and bars keeps the atmosphere lively all day.
It was inaugurated in 1851, after a complex construction process that lasted sixty-five years.
Every Sunday it features a street market for collectors of books and second-hand records, minerals and fossils, coins and stamps, arts and crafts and much more. And during the festivity of Santo Tomás on 21 December, it's also the setting for an attractive farmers' market full of typical products from all over Euskadi.

La Merced Bridge

We reach La Merced along the pontoons, under the gaze of Ceres, the first concrete building constructed in Bilbao. The former church of La Merced, today reconverted into the Sala Bilborock, looks onto the estuary, turning its back on the neighbourhood of San Francisco, which climbs up towards the mines with its bay windows.
The bridge is an excellent vantage point as you can enjoy from there magnificent views over San Antón and La Ribera, the Arriaga Theatre and El Ensanche, and the Bailén skyscrapers, the first time that Bilbao tried to touch the sky.
People still believe it is lucky to touch those grotesque animals on its lamp posts: an urban legend now carved in stone.

San Antón Bridge

For centuries it was the only point of union between both banks of the Ría de Bilbao. Converted into one of the emblems of Bilbao as part of its coat of arms, although the location of this bridge, in the coat of arms of the Villa de Bilbao, reflects the old 15th century bridge built at the foot of the tower of the church of San Antón.
Of historical importance as it is an obligatory step for the commerce of Vizcaya with the Kingdom of Castile, after the privilege granted by Mrs. María Díaz de Haro.
The floods caused significant damage to the old bridge and it was decided to build a new one on the other side of the church, a project commissioned to the architect Ernesto Hoffmeyer. Work began in 1871 and was not completed until 1877 due to the Carlist Wars. Both bridges coexisted from 1877 until 1882, when the old bridge was demolished. The current bridge was opened in 1938.

Quoted text source and further information please visit:

The official Tourism Bilbao Office website
The Bilbao Visita website
The Visit Biscay website
The Guggenheim Museum website