THE OLD TOWN

According to the fashion of the time, a neoclassical style district was built over the site of the medieval city; this was basically due to problems concerning land ownership, and the lack of activity among the surviving former owners after the fire in 1813.

Main Street ("Calle Mayor"), and Santa María church in the background.

"Calle 31 de Agosto", the old "Calle de la Trinidad", was the only street whose buildings were not devastated by the allied Anglo-Portuguese troops, after the disastrous liberation of San Sebastián, and here we find three key buildings in the public and religious architecture of San Sebastián.

Santa María church.

Santa María church was designed by the architects Lizardi and Ibero in the middle of the 1 8th century. La Real Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas, which was at that time enjoying a period of prosperity, greatly helped in its building.

Our Lady of El Coro, the city's patron saint, is in her shrine over the high altar in that church.

The legendary origins of her worship take us back to a priest, who was filled with holy love of the Dark Virgin with Baby Jesus. He first prayed to her, then spoke to her, and believing that the Virgin thanked him in special way for his prayers, he decided to take her home with him, so that he could have conversations with her there in private, which would, otherwise, be lost in the church.

Once the pious theft was planned, and when it was dark at night, the priest seized the statue of the Virgin from the lectern, and walked towards the door. He could not get out because, try as he might, the Virgin prevented him from doing so with enormous strength. Some witnesses to the innirlent led the city to suspect it had been a miraculous event, and since then the city has dedicated its fervent prayers to Our Lady El Coro.

The layout of Santa María church is a rectangular ground plan with-a semicircular roof, and the apse embeded in the sacristry.

It has an interior plan, divided into three naves by large octagonal pillars of great strength and similar height, so unifying the inner space. The entrances are on the lateral side front, and the main entrance is in the middle of the nave. This entrance is set into a Baroque portico between two towers facing Calle Mayor. This façade is matched by the main fachade of Buen Pastor Cathedral, forming an axis from which the other streets of the extended San Sebastián arise.

The aforementioned "Calle 31 de Agosto" is perpendicular to that axis, and San Vicente church is located at the end of the street. It is the oldest church in San Sebastián and, therefore, of great value. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century in an austere Gothic style, and has three naves of different height and cross vaults.

Outside the church, and as a reminder of San Sebastián's military past, we can see traces of fortified building.

San Telmo Museum, a former Dominican convent.

San Telmo Museum, and old Dominican convent, whose original plan dates from the beginning of the 16th century, is located almost opposite San Vicente church, at the other end of "Calle 31 de Agosto", close by Mount Urgull.

The ground plan of the church is in the form of a Latin cross with an extension near the presbytery. It is 48 m long, 10 m wide, and 20 m high. It is surmounted by Gothic arches, fan vaults, tiercerons and curved ligatures.

The choir is supported by a groin vault, and to the rear rests on a depressed arch.

The Renaissance cloister is adorned with cross vaults and richly decorated semicircular arches.

The cloister leads to the other rooms of the museum; among these the most important is the old church already described, which is nowadays used as a meeting room. The ceiling of the church is decorated with frescoes painted by José María Sert. There are also other rooms assigned for ethnography, anthropology and Basque art and culture. It is also worth mentioning an art gallery devoted to Basque painters.

Then, there is the "Plaza de la Trinidad", an important urban space in that area. It is located between Calle 31 de Agosto and Mount Urgull, on the ground left vacant after the demolition of the ruins of a prision that had been in the past a Jesuist monastery.

Built in 1963, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the demolition of the city walls, the square blends in with its surroundings, and is located in the right place for social gatherings, because it was the traditional place for trading, markets, popular games, as well as the site of the first gastronomical societies.

Walking down "Calle 31 de Agosto", half way between Santa María church and San Telmo Museum, there is a little slope on the left that leads to the square, where there is a pelota court, a ground for stone dragging trials (probaleku), a bowling alley, and stone terraces to accommodate the audience during the performaces that are held there.

At the far end of the square, we can see the archaelogical remains of former buildings in the area such as vaults, walls, etc., which have been preserved in memory of the square's past.

Going into the Old Town, and walking away from "Calle 31 de Agosto", we come across a place of great importance to the history and tradition of San Sebastián: the "Plaza de la Constitución", which was in the past known as "Plaza Nueva".

It was built on the ruins of another square designed by Hercules Torrelli in 1723, after its construction was approved in 1816. There are covered arcades along all four walls of the square. It has four entrances, all of them covered with terraces supported by arches. It was the first significant work carried out, when the city's reconstruction started.

The arcades were build to encourage the owners of the adjoining lots to rebuild their old houses.

City Library.

There are twenty longitudinal arches, and nine lateral arches, opposite the City Library, all of them made in standstone ashlar work.

The pillars supporting the arcade were originally polychrome, but in 1920, the City Council decided to strip them down to the stone, thus leaving it exposed.

From the keystones of their arches, as from those in the "Plaza del Buen Pastor" and the "Plaza de Gipuzkoa", are suspended lamps decorated with castles and fleur-de-lis motifs.

The arches form the base of a three-storey building. Continuous balconies, the length of each storey, give the whole composition a markedly horizontal character.

Their finely decorated wrought iron balustrades are uniform throughout the square, even on the entrance arches, in the centre of which the city initials are inscribed in a circle.

The 147 openings onto the Plaza Mayor are numbered with the purpose of serving as boxes for the public during the events that used to be held there. Both they and the arcades are surrounded by ashlar borders, the rest of the structure being rendered.

The unity of the eaves, all round the perimeter, is broken only by the little jack roofs of the lights illuminating the floor below.

Festive atmosphere in the "Plaza de la Constitución" on St. Thomas' Day.

The square has been the scene of many events: the administrative endeavours of the council's eldermen, royal proclamations, great political upheavals, the yearly Midsummer Day celebration, bullfights, prize-giving to the regatta winners, St. Thomas fair that at times would last as long as 15 days, the drumming parades, "sokamuturras" (bulls with wooden balls attached to their horns), etc. A guillotine was even set up, after the French took over the town in the 18th century.

Even today, the mayority of local festive events held throughout the year take place in this square, against the background of the City Library, which used to be the City Hall. The use of this building as a library goes back to 1951 .

This neat, classical style building was designed by Silvestre Pérez in 1832. Its main fachade consists of a ground floor divided by semicircular arches with five openings, and more floors joined by large Doric columns on heavy bases, which give definition to the row of balconies.

On the first floor front, the spaces between the columns provide spacious balconies, fortified along the line and height of the pedestals to the columns, each with their own solid balustrades.

On the second floor, the balconies are not joined to the columns, and are supported by corbels decorated with plant motifs. A large frieze and the coat-of-armas of San Sebastián crown this sober building, prominently located in one of the city's most popular spaces.

The axis of community services between "Calle Aldamar" and "Calle San Juan" is another typical part of the Old Town. Buildings and public spaces with lots of character and tradition were built on one side of the original Old Town.

Starting from the Boulevard, we find the "Brecha" market, with a bright, covered area, the "Pescadería" building, the schools and, finally, on the "Paseo Nuevo", the small building of the Photographic Society.

On there, and due to its architectural features, it is worth mentioning "La Brecha" market.

Located in a strategic spot of what used to be the original stronghold, and severely damaged on the many occasions when the town was captured, the public market of the "Brecha" (the breach), so-called because it was here that the invading troops gained access to the Old Town, was built in 1817. Only the two side entrances remain of the original structure, which consisted of two side galeries linked by a rear one, the three of them forming a central courtyard which opened onto the Boulevard. The shapely entrances, elegantly proportioned, and of Neoclassical style, are decorated with wide cornices, tympanums bearing the city's coat-of-arms, and pairs of fluted columns on bases on either side.

Today the courtyard in the middle is closed, and the building has a rectangular shape; it is well lit, with good ventilation, and the main entrance is in the middle of the façade. Both the main and lateral entrances are decorated in the same fashion, with the exception of the tympanum, which has two levels and is fully eclectic in style.