After Athletic Club training on Wednesday, we visited the city of Gernika.
Gernika has traditionally been the meeting place for the governance of the Bizkaia region. Since around 1300, the people of Biscay (Bizkaia) would send representatives to meet here. The meetings were abolished as dictators took power in Spain culminating in Franco’s rule over Spain. The Bizkaian representative governance did not resume until after Franco.
Gernika was the city offered by Franko to his allie Hitler for bombing practice by the Nazi Luftwaffe. This bombing against unarmed civilians inspired Picasso (confined to his Paris apartment during Nazi occupation) to paint his famous pacifist painting “Guernica”.
We visited Gernika and toured the Assembly House. The remnants of the original meeting tree are preserved. A new meeting tree grows by the Assembly House.
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