Places to visit 
BASÍLICA DE SANTA MARÍA
The original church was a building built on simple lines and faced with timber. It was presided over by a Gothic carving of the Blessed Virgin, which is still kept in the Basilica.
There are reports on the building of the present church that date back to 1480, with the tower-portico being of later construction. It is in a Gothic-Renaissance style. It follows a Basilica layout and has an octagonal apse with three drapes. Whereas the groin vaults inside are supported by fascicled pillars, the loads outside are distributed on flying buttresses joined to the buttresses. The gaps between them house the chapels subscribed by noble families.
On top of the buttresses outside there are two medieval gargoyles that depict mythical animals.
The church's two frontispieces reveal a marked Renaissance influence. The one on the side, which is older and more important, is known as the Portal de la Ribera, and has suffered from the erosive action of northwesterly winds. A spacious semicircular arch leads into a chapel-portico with a foliated vault with four keystones. The middle of the entrance arch bears the engraved name of the master stonecutter, Juan de Garita.
Entrance into the church involves passing through another ornamented semicircular arch. The keystone features a woman with a cross and a chalice in her hands, the symbol of faith; the remaining motifs are those normally associated with the Renaissance: scallop-shells and large angels. Positioned on the spandrels of the arch are dragons mounted by cherubs who are trampling on other figures, the symbols of evil.
The main frontispiece is sheltered below the bell tower, and serves as a portico, a common arrangement on churches in the Basque Country.
Construction work on the tower began in 1691 based on a project by Lucas Longa, from Guipuzkoa. In 1740, Manuel Arróspide was commissioned to build the finial on the bell tower.
The tower was razed by cannon-fire during the last skirmishes between the Carlists and Liberals between 1873 and 1874. Thanks to the financial contribution of a local citizen, Manuel Calvo, it was restored following a project by Casto de Zabala and Francisco Berriozabal.
Once inside the church, our attention is drawn to the high altarpiece, an outstanding example of Renaissance art in the Basque Country. It was made thanks to a bequest by the provost Lope García de Salazar, as is recorded on the seat of the altarpiece. It was begun in 1533 by Guiot de Beaugrant, but upon his death in 1549, the commission was taken up by his brother Juan de Beaugrant and a local artist, Juan de Ayala, who applied different styles, with the Flemish artists producing a more expressive and dynamic touch.
Once the carving had been completed in 1550, the assembly of the piece was commissioned to Juan de Imberto, who completed it in 1555. With its budget spent, no polychromy was applied to the altarpiece until 1749, the year in which Andrés de Rada painted the centre panelling in a Rococo style.
The altarpiece is arranged into five levels distributed into three sets of panelling. The middle one is presided over by a 14th century Gothic carving of Saint Mary. Above these are depictions of the Annunciation, the Assumption and the Holy Trinity. The lateral panelling has various depictions of scenes from the life of Christ. Interspersed on the side panels there are sculptures portraying the Evangelists, the Apostles and the Patriarchs of the Church.
On both sides of the high altarpieces there are two interesting examples of Gothic-Flemish painting: the triptych of the Crowing of the Blessed Virgin and the panel of the Virgen de la Pera. They are two unsigned pieces, imported from Flanders.
The Triptych of the Crowning, dating from the 15th century, presents the Blessed Virgin in the middle crowned by the Holy Trinity, flanked on the left by the Ascension of Christ and on the right by the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
The Panel of the Virgen de la Pera, dating from the 16 th century, is reminiscent of an engraving by Albert Durer.
On the side of the Epistle, there are the following chapels: Saint Anthony guardian of the Cristo del Portal, a 15 th century Hispanic-Flemish construction; Santiago (St. James), underwritten in 1569 by Juan de Ugarte and his wife Teresa Gómez de Martiartu, including the altarpiece and the railing that encloses it, which is considered to be one of the more interesting of its time in Vizcaya. The foot of the altarpiece holds the figures of the two donators.
The Gospel side holds the chapels of Salazar and of the Kings.
The Salazar Chapel housed the remains of Pedro de Salazar and Elvira Díez de Ullibarri, guarded by their son Pedro González de Salazar. It has a Renaissance-type tomb in an arcosolium, in which the deceased are laid out in the medieval manner. A lion lies at the feet of Pedro González de Salazar, as a symbol of the deceased's warrior feats and bravery. His hands hold the Holy Scriptures, thereby defining him as educated and religious man, in short, the values epitomising a Renaissance man. A dog lies at his wife's feet, as a symbol of fidelity. The railing that encloses the chapel was paid for in the 19th century by the Retuerto family.
For its part, the Renaissance Chapel of the Kings was financed by the Coscojales y Salazar family. Its altarpiece depicting the Adoration is attributed to the Beaugrant brothers, the authors of the high altarpiece.
The pulpit retains its 15th century polygonal stone plinth, whereas the woodwork is Neo-Gothic.
The present organ, dating from the end of the 19th century, was made by the French firm of Henri Didier and inaugurated in 1903.
