(Picasso's "Gernika")
Gernika is considered the historic capital of the Basque Country. We got to visit several places here including the infamous Assembly House and Tree of Gernika and the Museo de la Paz (Peace Museum). The Assembly House wasn't too impressive. There was a chamber where old and current goverment meetings still take place, paintings of old leaders, and a giant chandelier with trees on its detailing. Outside the House is the Tree of Gernika. This tree is considered the most universal symbol for the Basque people and many of the past General Assemblies were held under its branches. However, the yard is now home to several different generations of the tree and therefore making the scenery a bit less exciting.
(The Assembly Room)
The current "tree" was planted in 2005 and is smaller than a lot of trees around Summit. New Jersey. And being only February, it looked weak and measely without any leaves. There is an "Old Tree" (or trunk) that is housed by stone columns that is over 300 years old as well. This tree isn't even the first of all the Trees of Gernika, but is the oldest conserved tree. It is considered the grandparent to the tree that lasted from 1860-2004 before the new one was planted in 2005. For such a huge symbol though, I was not that impressed.
(CIDE group outside the current "tree"... yeah that leafless thing in the back)
The "Old Tree"
There was also the Stained-Glass Window room which was actually very intriguing. (A particular stained-glass maker I know would find it very impressive!) The room which was originally designed as a courtyard was transformed into a museum in 1964 and the roof acts as a huge statined-glass window. The window is said to represent the symbolism of the tree as a meeting point for the different people and municipalties of Biscay. The center is obviosuly the tree and around the border there are different monuments of different places in Biscay.
(Stained-glass roof)
Gernika is also commonly known for the tragic bombing that took place on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The current dictator (Franciso) of that time allowed Germans to test their bombs by dropping them on this town and the results were catastrophic. We visited el Museo de la Paz to learn more about this.Pablo Picasso even painted a painting called "Genika" to represent the tragedy of these bombings and the museum also had displays on the culture of peace and different aspects of peace all around the world. One room had a whole display of pictures, videos and clutter left over from the bombings. While you walked around there was rubble under the floor where you saw old letters, dolls, utensils, and books burned and charred among the shattered rock and cement. The museum was small, but I enjoyed it.
(Bombing rubble under the floors.. book and spoon)
After having a seafood themed lunch we got back on the buses to head to Mundaka. A town known for its surfing. It is part of the Mundaka Estuary and is clearly still a small fishing town. There were the typical old town homes and we got to walk out onto a pier to look out into the Cantabric Sea, but of course it started to pour, so the view was not so spectacular. We headed over to a church that was closed, and got to see more of the coast. I realized some people were climbing down some stairs to get closer down to the water and just as I was about to join them one of the teachers scolded everyone to come back up. We got to walk around a little more, but the rain kind of put a damper on things, so we got back onto the buses and headed home for the day. It wasn't one of our best trips so far, but I love when I get the chance to travel anywhere. And it will be cool to see Picasso's original painting of "Gernika" when we got to the museums in Madrid.
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