Do you know which is the Palace of Liberties in Bilbao?
Esteban Goti Bueno is the Archivist of the El Sitio Society.
When naming the Palacio de las Libertades in Bilbao, it may not be easy to locate, but it exists. Currently not with this name, but with the Municipal Library of Bidebarrieta. This building was the headquarters owned by the Sociedad El Sitio. It was inaugurated in December 1890 and was plundered in June 1937 as a result of the entry into the Bilbao town of the so-called ‘national’ troops. From that moment on, the Francoist State disposed of it and, at the beginning of the 1940s, it was acquired by the Bilbao City Council. In the 1950s it began to be used as a library after having had other uses. It was never returned to ‘El Sitio’.
‘El Sitio’ bought the Mario Adán de Yarza site on Bidebarrieta street in 1888, in order to build a new headquarters. The architect in charge was Severino de Achúcarro, as can be read on the façade. It is one of the most beautiful architectural monuments in Bilbao. The building has a great artistic wealth, both outside and inside. Two female effigies represent Liberty, similar to the face of the famous New York sculpture. These guard the entrance and one of the windows at street level. The pictorial works of Anselmo Guinea and José Echenagusía decorated various ceilings that are not fully preserved today. In fact, in the assembly hall, during the Franco regime, the central section of the ceiling was deliberately covered with greenish paint where an allegory of Concord was represented throwing Discord into the abysses.
The rooms inside have different finesse than those that are now available to the public: the current study room next to the reception corresponds to the billiards room, the loan room on the floor immediately above was the dining room, and the conference room, acts and dance, except for the latter, remains faithful to the original use. A beautiful stained glass window made in Antwerp decorates the main staircase of the building. There you can read THE “SITE”, which reminds us that this Company was the legitimate owner of this headquarters. In this window is the S that continues to serve as the logo for ‘El Sitio’. Several letters S, alone or crossed, can be seen in different medallions inside the palace.
Relevant personalities from culture, knowledge or politics passed through the Palace of Liberties. Given the liberal character of ‘El Sitio’, a forum for free expression was wanted. This intellectual spirit was a constant in the history of the Society. Personalities such as Segismundo Moret, Eduardo Dato, Miguel de Unamuno, José Ortega y Gasset, Federico García Lorca, Margarita Xirgu, Joaquín Dicenta, Ramiro de Maeztu, Carmen de Burgos, Gregorio Balparda, Manuel Azaña, Niceto Alcalá Zamora, Indalecio Prieto or Julián Besteiro , to cite only a short list of names, visited the Palacio de las Libertades or held conferences here during the first stage of ‘El Sitio’, from the end of the 19th century to 1936.
The last conference took place on June 24 of that year, and was given by the aforementioned Gregorio Balparda, as a sign that the Society sought to offer conciliation among its members, since ‘El Sitio’ had served as a platform for a good part of the ministers of the Second Republic, producing the disagreement of a part of the partners, who did not approve of this identification of the entity with that political period. In this sense, Balparda could offer internal coverage, since in his career a modern liberalism had been combined, which wanted to include the republicans and socialists for the politics of the Restoration system, and, in another sense, as a monarchist, he could tune in with the most disenchanted partners with ‘El Sitio’. On August 31, after a quick decision and without judicial guarantees, by the Defense of the Republic authorities in Vizcaya, he was assassinated on the Cabo Quilates prison ship, at the hands of violent militiamen.
On October 15, 1936, ‘El Sitio’ temporarily ceded its facilities to the Ministry of Health of the recently created Basque Government. The use that was given was that of Blood Hospital. These types of hospitals were set up near the war fronts, to attend to the urgently wounded due to the lack of ordinary hospitals available. Less than a year later, on June 19, 1937, with the arrival of the rebel troops in Bilbao, under the command of General Solchaga, the headquarters of “El Sitio” in Bidebarrieta was assaulted by the most aggressive elements of this side. The Palacio de las Libertades was a trophy, the living image of liberal Bilbao that had not fallen to the sieges or sieges -hence the name of the Society- that the Carlists had begun in the 19th century. On the other hand, the Pantheon dedicated to the Defenders of Bilbao (1870), located in the Mallona cemetery, was the victim of vengeful revenge by the “national” extremists. In 1937, this Monument was already deteriorated due to various attacks.
Stained glass window made in Antwerp where the emblem and name of ‘El Sitio’ appear. /
Since 1980, in those last years of the transition to democracy, a group of Bilbao with a liberal spirit, led by Gregorio San Juan, Alfonso Carlos Saiz Valdivielso, Iñaki Legarreta, María Jesús Vergara and José Ramón Blanco, reactivated ‘El Sitio’. Precisely, in January 1981, the Company’s reopening ceremony was held in Bidebarrieta. Although various arguments were put forward against holding the event in this building, the mayor of Bilbao, Jon Castañares, allowed the event to take place in the old Palacio de las Libertades, as he thanked Saiz Valdivielso in his speech. Since then, we have made a number of convocations in this place.
On May 27, 2021, the Board of Directors of the ‘El Sitio’ Company, represented by the person who signs this text, submitted a proposal to the Plenary Session of the Bilbao City Council. Four objectives are stated in the proposal: the exterior signage of the Palacio de las Libertades, today Bidebarrieta Municipal Library, as the former headquarters of ‘El Sitio’; the exhibition of the history of the palace, by means of a panel, in the hall of this building; the indication of the use that its rooms had while it was the headquarters of the Company; and, finally, the consultation with ‘The Site’ of the information that was to be included. The government team of the Bilbao City Council proposed an amendment to our original proposal, which consisted of signaling only the hall of the building with its history, as well as working with our Society on the content that was reflected there. The main argument of the amendment was based on the idea that the exterior signage, and that of the interior rooms, could cause confusion about the use of the library. On this point I disagreed, understanding that the approach of the government team was not sustained.
The amendment was approved with the vote, of different orientation, issued by the municipal political groups. In accordance with our liberal character, we democratically accept the situation resulting from that Plenary, but our objectives are inalienable and we will continue to bring before our institutions the purpose that the Bidebarrieta Palace be marked as the former headquarters of ‘El Sitio’ abroad, and the old use that the interior rooms had was placed. In the aforementioned plenary, a councilor from the government team stated that with the voted solution a story was not closed, but rather began. And so we understand it too. What in the present has not been completed, remains as work for the future. We would especially like to thank Iciar Rodríguez, technician of the Bilbao City Council for historical-artistic heritage, for the excellent professional work that he has carried out in the Mallona Monument, as well as in Bidebarrieta. She has acted at all times with vocation, dialogue and involvement.
It is our desire that it be understood that there are many ways to recognize outside and inside buildings, the history that assists them. And this does not entail any harm. One of the main elements in conflicts such as the Palacio de las Libertades is the issue of succession to real estate. “El Sitio” was not and is not a political party or union. It is an entity that does not have militancy, but membership. Bidebarrieta was a recreational venue, for political and cultural diffusion, but, we insist, not the company name of a party or union group. Therefore, the same cannot be demanded of this type of organization, to recognize the ownership of goods that were illegitimately seized in the civil war and the dictatorship. However, it is not the material recovery of the Bidebarrieta palace that moves us, but a moral reparation, which, under current legislation, does not seem logical to deny sine die.
Among our partners, we have descendants of members of the first stage of ‘El Sitio’. If the Society had not been reactivated in the 1980s, part of Bilbao’s liberal history, that of “El Sitio”, or the May 2 procession itself, would have disappeared. We judge that it is sufficient accreditation to maintain that “El Sitio”, in this 21st century, carries behind it the historical continuity of this Society founded in 1875.
Let’s not be afraid to recognize ‘El Sitio’ its history. Our liberal sign is not only situated in politics, but especially in attitude. At this point we emphasize that ideal of Dr. Marañón, who wrote in his Liberal Essays of 1947: «Liberalism is, then, a behavior and, therefore, much more than a policy. And, as such behavior, it does not require professions of faith but to exercise it, in a natural way, without displaying it or flaunting it. One must be liberal without realizing it, as one is clean, or as, by instinct, we resist lying.
We will do so, because a beautiful heritage rests on us, which we continue to invigorate today.