Palacio de la Diputación de Bizkaia Palace

The Palacio de la Diputación de Bizkaia palace is the best example of eclecticism in Basque contemporary art.

Building works began in 1890, under architect Luis Aladrén. The project satisfied the expectations of Bizkaia's bourgeoisie, which wanted to show in its new HQ the territory's economic strength and power. The great sumptuousness of the building matched perfectly that desire. Eclecticism prevails in the outer part of the building, combines and defines again the Classicist language's features till the diffusion of any reference trace.

The palace's inner part responds to the same decorative excessiveness. And it is a good example of the applied arts developed in that period in Bizkaia: marbles, wood, stucco, mirrors, plasters, vases, pottery, stained glass windows... Evidence of that fact are the ceilingýs paintings by José Echenagusia, Anselmo Guinea and Álvaro Alcalá Galiano, the three pottery panels by Daniel Zuloaga and the stained glass windows by Anselmo Guinea.