Basqueculture.eus is an official website designed for international audiences, focusing on various aspects of Basque culture, art, creativity, heritage and language (Euskara). It is a window into the culture of our land. We invite you to look through the window and explore the articles, stories and essays by the people who create and shape our culture.
Art
On one wall of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao hang 40 small paintings. Facing us, we see a landscape or a sparrow, a gaze, a feather, and a mirror reflecting the visitor in 19th and 20th century circular and oval gilded frames. The author of this time-defying mosaic is Alain Urrutia.
Language
The positive response to the most recent bersolarismo final, which filled the Navarra Arena with 13,500 spectators, prompts us to analyse the rise of this cultural manifestation.
Music
Ødei´s debut solo album is sincere, raw poetry free from excess or empty artifice.
This is the beginning of an amazing history, the history of the Basque people through small stories of production, industry, culture and intangible heritage.
Literature and books
New York is an impossible puzzle made up of pieces of the world. Immigrants erected the skyscrapers that caress the clouds, and built the imagery that symbolises the city. The history of New York has been written by immigrants and since 2018 Kirmen Uribe (Ondarroa, 1970), one of the most relevant Basque writers of his generation, has also become part of this mosaic of identities, languages and cultures.
Music
Mikel Laboa is not just any musician; he is a legend. He is still very much alive at public and private events, family meals, schools, among friends, in towns and cities.
Gastronomy
For Basques, food is a religion, a blind faith, a celebration, a matter of utmost importance.
Basqueculture.eus is also a gateway for industry professionals from other countries seeking information on the audiovisual, music, publishing, performing arts and plastic art sectors, as well as Basque heritage and language. This website will allow you to contact the main actors in these sectors.
Euskal Herria, which means ‘land of the Basque language’, is located in southern Europe, at the western end of the Pyrenees. It straddles both sides of the mountain range, through valleys and plains to the wild Cantabrian Sea. This ancient land boasts an extraordinary culture, and a language unlike any other in the world. The Basque Country, also known as Euskadi or Euskal Herria, is inclusive and welcoming, and everything is within easy reach. Having adapted to change, this modern society leads the way in Europe in terms of quality of life and sustainable development.
Euskara is the oldest living language in Europe. Its origin remains a mystery and it bears no resemblance to any other family of languages. It has survived for centuries, and in so doing, the Basques have preserved a rich, unique culture. A case in point is the robust health enjoyed by the Basque art of improvised verse (bertsolaritza), a formidable force in Basque culture today. Currently, some 900,000 people speak Basque. The language also enjoys a strong presence in the educational, cultural, social and digital spheres.
This is a land of deep roots and unique traditions, folklore, and mythology. Together with the language, they occupy a prominent place in the collective imagination. But more than just a way of interpreting the past, our heritage serves as a basis on which to forge our future. Ours is a modern land where tradition and modernity live together in harmony.