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Goiko Portala

Kareaga house, the Painted House and Solartekua Palace.

One of the old entrances to the village.

Casa Kareaga

Orients its main facade to Goikoportala. A baroque building (formerly a tower house) topped with wide eaves. On the first floor, there is the Barroeta coat of arms – somewhat deteriorated – comprising a lion, the cross of Saint Andrew with an eight-pointed star, a tree with an eagle devouring a piglet and three poplar leaves. In the center of the shield there is a crown and on the border the following legend: Justitia et Charitas Dilecti principis arces (justice and charity are strengths of the beloved prince).

The Painted House

The Painted House of Erdikokalea nº 15 also faces one of its facades to Goikoportala. The ground floor is made of ashlar masonry and the upper floors with balconies are decorated with geometric shapes, today somewhat deteriorated. Between this house and No. 2 of Goikoportala, there is an iroko wood door that closes the gully – a space for separating buildings – between the two houses. With the name Barrurantz begira (Ekozain), it was created by Henrike Arriaga following the initiative of the Hemen Be Bai de Markina-Xemein merchants association; initiative that contemplated the closure of the gullies through a look that would enhance them. Once the proposal was accepted by the Markina-Xemein City Council, in 2007 the collection of doors that we will mention in our tour was inaugurated.

Solartekua Palace

Located in Goikoportala nº 3, the baroque palace of Mugartegui, also known by the name of Solartekua, has housed the Markina-Xemein town hall since April 2004. It is one of the most relevant urban palaces in the municipality. It was built by the Gipuzkoan architect Lucas Longa following the commission that the knight from Calatrava, Juan José Fernández de Mugartegui y Mañozca, made him in 1666. It is composed of the ground floor, two floors and an attic. The main facade, made of limestone arranged in ashlar masonry, shows us the access on the ground floor topped by a split pediment that houses a bust; on the first floor —noble floor—, in sandstone, the family shields —Mugartegui-Laca shield on the left and Mañozca on the right — and three individual balconies with good iron forging, keeping symmetry with the second floor. The building is finished off with a thick cornice that precedes an eave decorated with carved wooden corbels and a hipped roof.

In the rear part was the garden which today is a public parking lot. As for the side facades, the one that faces towards the Carmen church stands out with a loggia or sunbathing area in Italian-style semicircular arches. The other facade had attached a house —Etxe Txiki— for domestic service. This house has disappeared making the palace a free-standing building as it was in its conception.

Inside, all the carpentry work draws attention: staircase, coffered ceilings and decorative features, among which a wood carving that reproduces a snake woman stands out on the ground floor.

Goiko Portala 1
48270 Markina-Xemein, Bizkaia

Images (10)

Continue visit: Following monuments

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GOIKOPORTALA FOUNTAIN

The Goikoportala fountain built in 1787 is a civil work that represents the culmination of the bringing of drinking water to Markina. A project “promoted in unison by the municipal authorities by a group of local intellectuals and by the main owners of churches, farmhouses , mountains and forges headed by the count of Peñaflorida, Mr. Xavier Maria de Munibe, the founder and perpetual director of the Royal Basque Society of the Friends of the Country” following the ideas of the Enlightenment. This work places Markina at the forefront of illustrated Basque urban planning. Francisco de Echanove’s project consists of a limestone column topped by garlands and crowned by a replica of the original pointed dome. At the bottom of the column there are four white stone ovals, one of which shows the town’s coat of arms and the other three, some quatrains that refer to the construction of the fountain and that are attributed to Juan Antonio Moguel (1745 -1804), a religious who practiced in the parish of Xemein and author of the literary work Peru Abarka written at the beginning of the 19th century in Biscayan Basque.

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CONVENT AND CHURCH OF CARMEN

The conventual complex of great proportions is made up of the residence, the garden on the north side, the cloister and the church. The convent was founded in 1691 by the abbot of the Collegiate Church of Zenarruza, Ignacio de Munibe y Axpe, son of the counts of Peñaflorida. The church built under the Baroque style was inaugurated in 1724. The architect is unknown although the construction is attributed to the Carmelite Fray Marcos. In 1808, the convent was suppressed and it became a barracks for French troops. Likewise, in 1839, due to the exclaustration, the religious were expelled until 1869. The facade made of sandstone arranged in ashlar masonry has three bodies: one central and two laterals. The central one, higher than the sides, houses a niche with the sculpture of the Virgen of Carmen and is topped by a triangular pediment that includes the coat of arms of the Order. The lateral bodies, lower and narrower, are topped by gables. The interior of the temple has a Latin cross shape, a straight apse and three halls. The two lateral halls, in the same way as the Carmel churches, are arranged as a processional cloister. Its covering is done by means of domes, while the central hall and the arms of the transept are made with lunettes and with a cupola. The main altar, in baroque style, is presided over by the Virgen of Carmen; to the right is saint Cyril of Alexandria and to the left, saint Elias. The altarpiece Christ on the Cross is finished off with saint Angelo on the right and saint John of the Cross on the left. The lateral altars, also baroque, are dedicated to saint Joseph (Gospel) and saint Teresa (Epistle). Next to this altar, there is another one dedicated to san Joaquín and santa Ana. Each side hall contains four altars. Those on the right are dedicated to the Sacred Heart, saint Michael, saint Teresa of Lisieux and to Calvary or Crucifixion of Christ. Those on the left are for the Flagellation, saint John of the Cross, saint Anthony of Padua and the Souls of Purgatory. Currently, a part of the premises of this convent is enabled as a hostel for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.

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HISTORIC CENTER

The historic center has a medieval planning structured in three longitudinal streets and a corner block that unites them (Guenkalea, Erdikokalea and Kaleokerra- and a transverse street –Zeharkalea). The town was surrounded by a wall in which three gates were opened: those of Orueta, Irureta and Suso/Goiko. The wall was the element that marked the difference between the town and the parish church: the town of an urban nature with a concentrated population and the parish of a rural nature with a scattered population. The wall gradually disappeared due to demographic pressure, so the town grew in the direction of its extreme neighborhoods – the suburbs. At each door a suburb would appear: Abesua’s at the door of Irureta; Artibai’s in that of Orueta; and Arriba/Goiko’s (Suso), today Karmengo Kalea, which began at the door of the same name. The plots that make up the town have undergone transformations in their dimensions and in their internal distribution so that most of the buildings have lost their medieval image. However, the town preserves very well, despite the changes made in the modern and contemporary periods, the layout of its streets. The Historic Center was classified in 1996 as a Cultural Asset with the category of Monumental Complex and its protection regime was established. In 2000, the Camino de Santiago was also classified as a Cultural Asset with the category of Monumental Complex and it included the Historic Center of Markina-Xemein. Let us remember that the coastal route of the Camino de Santiago goes up to Mendaro (Gipuzkoa) and enters Markina through the Arnoate peak. Going down Arnoate, the Camino enters the Lea-Artibai region through Markina and following the banks of Artibai River, the pilgrims reach Ziortza-Bolibar.