Munoa palace

Description of events

Center authorized for medical attention
Reception center
Date : –
Address : 48903 Barakaldo

Horacio Echevarrieta (1870-1963) was a distinguished and prolific businessman from Bilbao, as well as a republican-oriented politician, becoming a deputy in the Cortes in 1903 due to the Republican-Socialist Conjunction (CRS).

The erection of the palace, which is located in the El Llano neighborhood, dates back to the 60s of the 19th century, being Horacio Echevarrieta’s last home before his death. During the Civil War it had several uses, the most prominent being that of the Sanitary Headquarters.

Within the organization of the Department of Military Health, different offices were established, each with specific functions. In addition to being the General Headquarters, on the estate that surrounds the palace, a beautiful English-style garden, the Mobile Park, the Transport Administration and the Ambulance Service were established. According to the historian Koldobika López, the Munoa Palace “was used mainly as a garage for the mobile fleet and as a garage for the ambulance service. Cars and trucks were kept there for the battalions to use, to repair them or simply as scrap yards to collect irreparable car parts ”(p.212). Its use as a hospital center was specific: “it was used as a hospital at specific times” (p.213)

The Munoa Palace was also a reception space for refugees mainly from Gipukoa.

With the entry of Franco’s troops, the place was used as a parking lot for military vehicles, a fact that caused numerous damage to the estate.

The estate and the palace belonged to the heirs of Horacio Echevarrieta until 2014, the year in which it was acquired by the Barakaldo City Council.

SOURCES :
LÓPEZ, Koldobika (2016). The Civil War in Barakaldo. Eleven months of resistance. Bilbao: Beta Editions.