History of the estuary, the backbone of Bizkaia

The estuary was Bilbao’s High Street, the major thoroughfare toward which its most important buildings’ doors open: Arriaga Theatre, the City Hall, the University of Deusto and more.

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A bit of history

  • The area surrounding the Nervión-Ibaizabal estuary was home to one of the largest concentrations of industrial activity in Europe, decisively contributing to building the current hallmarks of Bizkaia's identity in particular and Basque identity more generally. The strength, hard work and energy contained in the approximately 15 kilometres around the estuary had special value and are a testament to a hard, yet epic past.

  • The industrial heritage that marked both sides of the estuary, combined with the heritage in the mining area and Enkarterri, bears silent witness to what was in its day a setting of intense industrial and mining activity. The old mines, factories, machinery, railways, ships, dykes and loading docks that live on are highly historically, culturally, technologically and even scientifically valuable and they also have great tourism potential.

  • The adaptation of the estuary for navigability was the biggest enterprise undertaken in Bizkaia in the last fourth of the 19th century. The needs generated by iron ore exports required channelling and dredging the riverbed and eliminating the dangerous sandbar that formed at the inlet to the estuary and was removed thanks to the Iron Jetty in Portugalete.

  • Altos Hornos de Vizcaya Blast Furnace No. 1 in Sestao, the Ilgner Pavilion in Barakaldo and the Vizcaya Bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site, could not be understood without the work done in forges like El Pobal or without the hard work of the miners in La Arboleda or the Bodovalle mine, located in the Basque Country Mining Museum.

  • The industrial development of the estuary couldn’t be explained without the participation of the industrial bourgeois class, who lived in luxurious villas in Getxo, and the thousands of workers and families who lived in groups in worker's housing along the left bank of the river.

  • And of course the shipbuilding industry led by companies, like Compañía Euskalduna and La Naval, which turned the estuary into a major thoroughfare and backbone of Bizkaia with the sale of products and raw materials. This rich heritage is on display in the Itsas Sea Museum Bilbao.

  • All of these components comprised a unique landscape that deserves to be preserved, described and shared with future generations, but also with visitors looking to learn about our history.