Museums in Bizkaia: from the mining truck to the Rolls Royce

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'Encartaciones' Museum

Museums in Bizkaia can be a beautiful guiding thread to move around the map. In this route, we propose to show up at Las Encartaciones – Enkarterri comarca (land) in a journey from museum to museum. We will discover from mining material to shiny Rolls Royces.

Departing from Bilbao towards Portugalete through the N-634 road, we will make our first stop in Gallarta. The Basque Country Mining Museum is located there, in the Campodiego Quarter. There is a big opencast area of iron ore mining next to the museum. Curiously, it indicates the lowest point in the Basque Country, because it is located twenty meters below sea level.

We will continue through the N-634 road and turn to the BI-2701 road in Muskiz, which goes past Sopuerta. The original Avellaneda Assembly House rose further on the village core, although it is inside the communal area. It has been transformed into a space devoted to Las Encartaciones memory, structured in different areas: Geography, Pre-History, Romanisation, high Middle Ages, Village Foundation, Middle Ages, Institutions, and Ancien Régime.

The BI-2701 road guides us to the comarca’s administrative centre, Balmaseda, which has a small young museum devoted to its history. This route hides a final surprise for us. If we take the BI-636 road to the East, in Güeñes we will choose the turnoff towards Galdames (BI-3631). Its amazing Loizaga Tower stands out due to its outside well-rounded character. The brightness of the most elegant old cars waits for us inside the building within the widest Rolls Royces collection in the world.

Balmaseda Museum: Opened in 2003 in the original Church of San Juan del Moral, it exhibits a collection of works of art, books, documents, and old objects related to Balmaseda’s history.

Las Encartaciones Museum: The assemblies of Las Encartaciones were held in this 14th century tower, now enlarged and transformed into Las Encartaciones Museum, a centre for getting closer to the history and character of Las Encartaciones territory.

Loizaga Tower (Galdames): Here we can find no less than 43 magnificent Rolls Royces; the oldest of them is the Silver Ghost dating from 1910. This medieval tower hides a real history of luxury cars.Basque Country Mining Museum (Gallarta): Old mining trucks used for the transport of minerals, mining lamps, machinery and tools of all types, besides a painting collection, recover the culture of traditional mining.