Casa de Juntas and the Tree of Gernika

The Casa de Juntas of Gernika stands on Allende Salazar Kalea in Gernika-Lumo, Biscay, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the seat of the Juntas Generales de Bizkaia, the assembly that has represented the lordship and province of Biscay since the Middle Ages, and the home of the Tree of Gernika, the oak that symbolises Basque foral rights. For centuries, the lords of Biscay swore to respect the fueros, or traditional laws, beneath an oak at Gernika, and Spanish monarchs continued the oath into the modern era. The present assembly house was built in the 1820s to host the Juntas, and a 20th-century extension added a debating chamber. The building is neoclassical in character, with a sober portico, and the assembly hall is decorated with a large stained-glass ceiling completed in 1985, which depicts the Tree of Gernika and the Basque lands. The old oak itself, whose trunk is preserved as a relic in a small temple in the garden, was replaced by successive saplings, and the current tree is a descendant of the original lineage. The town of Gernika-Lumo was bombed on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria, an attack that killed many civilians and inspired Picasso's painting Guernica. The Casa de Juntas and the oak survived, and this contributed to their symbolic importance as survivals of Basque identity. The site comprises the assembly building, a chamber, a library and the gardens, with sculpture and memorials. Visitors usually tour the debating chamber, the stained-glass hall and the garden, and a short exhibition explains the history of the fueros. The approach is symbolic and chronological, linking medieval custom to the modern autonomy of the Basque Country. The building and trees are well maintained, and the site is free to visit. Gernika is reachable from Bilbao by train in about an hour.