The town sits in the valley of the river Oka, which flows into
the Gernika estuary. Very close by is the Urdaibai Nature
Reserve, which UNESCO has declared to be a Biosphere Reserve.
The cave of Santimamiñe (Kortezubi) shows that the valley has
been inhabited since prehistoric times. Inside are cave
paintings comparable in terms of quality and richness to those
of Altamira. From that period on, Gernika was inhabited by
successive civilizations until its foundation as a town in 1366.
In town, you must visit the Casa de Juntas del Señorío de
Vizcaya (the meeting hall of the gentlemen of VIzcaya), with its
symbolic tree - the Basque leaders used to meet under it to
decide on the interests of the community-, the “juradera” church
of Santa María, the Museum of Euskalerria and the Parque de la
Paz (park of peace), with colossal sculptures by Eduardo
Chillida and Henry Moore. In 1937, during the Civil War, the
town was totally destroyed by German aircraft sent by Hitler.
This experimental act, which inspired Picasso