San Telmo Museoa

The convent

A secretary of Charles V paid for the Dominican convent

The original complex dates from the 16th century and was built for a Dominican convent. Its patrons were Alonso de Idiaquez, secretary of the emperor Charles V, and his wife Gracia de Olazabal. Major construction started in 1544 and was completed in 1562.

1813

In 1813 the city was ransacked and the convent badly damaged

In 1813, at the end of the Peninsular War, San Sebastián was besieged, ransacked and razed to the ground by relieving British and Portuguese troops, and the convent suffered extensive damage. In 1836 the Dominican friars were expelled and the convent became artillery barracks.

A museum

The city bought the convent in 1929 and opened a museum in 1932

The tower was classified a National Monument in 1913 because of the monastery's poor state. The city bought the complex in 1929 and reopened it in 1932 as a museum. The inauguration featured a concert conducted by Manuel de Falla in a church decorated with canvases by Josep Maria Sert.

The skin

The new wing is covered in 3,000 aluminium panels with plants in the holes

The museum reopened on 19 April 2011 after a four-year makeover by the architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano. The extension runs into the lower wedge of Urgull hill. Its facade has holes pierced in 3,000 molten aluminum panels, mimicking erosion holes in rock, with vegetation hanging from them.

3,000aluminium panels on the extension's facade

1902

It is the oldest museum in the Basque Country

The museum was established in 1902 on the corner of calle Andia and Garibai, but soon became too small. It moved to the San Telmo monastery in 1932. It is the oldest museum in the Basque Country and the parent centre for the network of local museums across Gipuzkoa.