Basque Studies Commons^™

Into The Basque Country: The Spiritual Underpinnings Of Eduardo Chillida's Gure Aitaren Etxea, Katherine J.E. Scalia

Theses and Dissertations

In 1988, Eduardo Chillida dedicated his sculpture, Gure Aitaren Etxea, to the victims of the 1937 Spanish Civil War aerial attack on the city of Gernika. This thesis maintains that beyond memorial, the sculpture can be understood as a sacred site and examines the sources of the sculpture’s spiritual dimension, paying particular attention to the work’s underlying Basque influences. Gernika’s cultural significance, the intricacies of the Basque language, and the history of Basque Nationalist ideology are addressed. The paper concludes, however, that while Chillida found great stimulus within his own culture, the sculpture’s ability to serve as refuge, sanctuary, …