What to See in San Sebastián - Top Sights and Attractions

Peak with a fortress and popular views. Urgull is a hill by the ocean sitting at the heart of the Basque city of San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The hill shapes along with Mount Ulia and Igeldo the city's coastline relief, standing at the northern end of a peninsula formerly linked to mainland by a spit of sand between the river Urumea and the Bay of La Concha.

The hill became a defense point since the early ages of the city foundation in the 12th century, but the walls and the military structure were reinforced especially after the modern state boundaries took shape in the 16th century. The hill is topped by a stronghold (headquarters, barracks and warehouses), the Mota Castle, but it had a chapel and a conspicuous 12 metre-long sculpture of Jesus Christ added in 1950, now towering over the bay.

The hill (as well as the city) was a hotspot for military operations, like the ones of the Siege of San Sebastián (1813) and the assaults of 1823, 1836 and 1876 (Carlist Wars). The hill lost its military interest on account of the city's newly acquired tourist resort status and was sold to the city council in 1924. Urgull shows nowadays a tree-covered surface for the most part, picturesque military structures reminiscent of other times and pleasant promenades with outstanding views over the bay and the city. The rooms of the stronghold at the hill top accommodate a small history museum, part of the major San Telmo Museoa located at the south-eastern access of the hill.^[1]

Sculpture by Eduardo Chillida. The Comb of the Wind is a collection of three sculptures by Eduardo Chillida arranged as an architectural work by the Basque architect Luis Peña Ganchegui. For both, this is one of their most important and well known works.

The Comb of the Wind is located at the western end of La Concha Bay, at the end of Ondarreta beach, in the municipality of San Sebastián, in the province of Guipúzcoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is made up of three of Chillida's monumental steel sculptures, weighing 10 tons each, embedded in natural rocks rising from the Cantabrian Sea.

The work was completed in 1976. In addition to the sculptures, a viewing area was created on the nearby coast that includes "blow-holes", or wave-driven outlets for air and water.^[2]

Cultural center in San Sebastián, Spain. Tabakalera is a former tobacco factory in San Sebastián, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain, which was converted into a contemporary culture centre. Located in the Egia district of San Sebastián, next to the Estación del Norte railway station and the Cristina Enea Park, it takes up one of the biggest plots of the urban area.

For 90 years (1913–2003) Tabakalera was a tobacco factory. It was one of the main employers in San Sebastián and most of the workers were women. The building took the name of the enterprise that managed the tobacco production in Spain until the privatisation process that converted Tabacalera into Altadis.

In 2003 the factory was closed by Altadis. A year later, in 2004, the San Sebastián City Council, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Government bought the building in order to transform it into the International Centre for Contemporary Culture of San Sebastián.

Since 2007 Tabakalera organised a wide sort of activities. Exhibitions like Summer by Julian Schnabel (2007), No es Neutral (2008), Egiatik (2008) and Look Again (2009) or experimental shortfilm screenings like LABO, in collaboration with Clermont-Ferrand Festival.

In 2010, refurbishment works began in the building. On September 11, 2015, the renovated building was inaugurated. The building contains exhibition halls, a multi-purpose plaza, a multi-purpose hall, a cinema theatre, a creation library called Ubik, media labs called Hirikilabs, spaces for art creation, a cafeteria called Taba, a residence for artists, and a four-star hotel, called One Shot Tabakalera House. It also hosts the headquarters of local culture institutions Kutxa Kultur, the Basque Film Archive, the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Elías Querejeta Film School and the Etxepare Basque Institute.^[5]

Museum in San Sebastián, Spain. San Telmo Museoa is a museum of the Basque society located in Donostia-San Sebastián, addressing old and contemporary Basque culture, arts and history in a European, global context. It moved to its current location in 1932, Zuloaga plaza in the old town, at the foot of the hill Urgull. It occupies a former Dominican monastery complemented by a 21st century extension.

San Telmo is presented as a museum and, at the same time, as a place to disseminate knowledge and create thought; it is an instrument to understand the present and build the future from encounters with the past and with our roots. In 2011, a major makeover of its facilities took place by adding an extension to the convent and reshaping its facilities along the lines of its new conceptual approach as a museum of the Basque society and citizenship. The museum received a Special Mention in the 2013 best European museum contest organized annually by the Museum Forum.^[7]