Chillida Leku

Eduardo Chillida bought the Zabalaga farmhouse and its land in 1983 and spent years restoring the building and placing his work in the meadows and oak woods around it, opening it in 2000 as a museum he intended as a place where people could walk among sculptures and rest under the trees. Around forty large works in Corten steel, iron and granite stand outdoors, several of them from the series exploring space, weight and the gap between masses, with smaller pieces, drawings and studies inside the farmhouse. He died in 2002. The museum closed in 2011 for financial reasons and reopened in 2019 under a new arrangement with the Hauser and Wirth gallery. The grounds cover about eleven hectares.

What you actually see

• The meadow sculptures - around forty large iron and granite works outdoors.
• The Zabalaga farmhouse - a restored sixteenth-century baserri holding smaller pieces.
• The oak woods - planted grounds designed as a setting for the work.
• The Corten steel - rusted surfaces changing with weather and season.

When to go

April to June and September to November; the setting is outdoors and Basque rain is frequent. Autumn colour in the oaks suits the rusted steel. The museum closes on Tuesdays outside high season.

Honest expectations

Most of the visit is outdoors in a wet climate, so weather shapes it considerably. The work is abstract and demanding; visitors without interest in it find the grounds pleasant but the point elusive. Getting there needs a bus or car.

Nearby

San Sebastian is eight kilometres north; the Peine del Viento, also by Chillida, is on its bay.