The City Hall/Library of San Sebastian !!!

Posted in Spain, Europe

I bring you again to a wonderful city of my dear Spain, I bypass the City many times on my route between France and Spain since 1992. It has been as the old saying said, the beginning of a beautiful friendship of San Sebastian, The choices are endless and very nice spots as we walked all over once in town, I ,again, found me a picture in my cd rom vault and an older paper picture that should be in my blog for you and me, Therefore, here is my take again on  the City Hall/Library of San Sebastian !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

You the imposing building of the City Hall, the seat of the San Sebastián City Council. It was built at the end of the 19C as a casino before becoming the city hall in 1947. The construction took place between 1882 and 1887, the architecture is eclectic in style, and the building was inaugurated on July 1, 1887, in the presence of Queen Maria Christina. The gaming rooms were not located on the ground floor, which was intended for restaurants and reading, but on the upper floor. This was because, at that time, gambling was theoretically prohibited for Spaniards but permitted for foreigners. The casino was closed in 1924 when Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship banned such establishments. In 1938, while Spain was embroiled in the Spanish Civil War, the city of San Sebastián bought back the concession and subsequently decided to use the building as the City/town hall. Sixty years after its initial opening, the building was reopened on January 20, 1947, after undergoing some modifications. The building is located along La Concha Bay, in the immediate vicinity of the Alderdi Eder Gardens.

Next to it side ground floor you have the Municipal Central Library, Let me tell you more of this often overlook space when visiting the City hall above, The first San Sebastián Public Library responded to a very early initiative: as early as 1844, Sebastián de Miñano offered his own collection of books as a donation. Without exception, the project was realized and it was three years later, in 1874, when the Library was inaugurated on Calle Andía. Antonio Arzac Alberdi created the first printed catalog of the library. In 1910, under director Francisco López Alen, the Library was transferred to the building of the Escuela de Artes y Oficios, into the current building of Correos on Calle Urdaneta. In 1931, the library was enriched by the donation made by D. Fermín Lasala and Collado, Duque de Mandas, which posed a library of approximately 10,000 volumes, with reviews such as Gazette Nationale or Le Moniteur Universel and Revue des Deux Mondes. In 1932, the Library moved to the Dominican Convent of San Telmo and, finally, in 1951, to the old Casa Consistorial in the Plaza de la Constitución. The Biblioteca maintains its character of conservation and investigation since 1986 when it inaugurated its pre-established service. In 1992, Susana Soto Aranzadi found the bases of the Red Municipal Library of Donostia Culture, a network which was founded with a Central Library, located in three buildings: the Infant Library on Calle Fermín Calbetón from the year 1994; The Section General in the buildings of the City Hall (see pic), in the gardens of Alderdi Eder from 1999, and the building of the plaza de la Constitución which houses the offices of the Library Service and the Central Technical Unit, where the process of acquisition and cataloging is centralized.

The Libraries of San Sebastian (see Central) : https://www.donostiakultura.eus/es/bibliotecas/ven-conocenos/direcciones-horarios

The city of San Sebastian on moving about and tourist info: https://www.donostia.eus/ataria/es/web/info/hasiera

The Euskadi Basque tourist office on San Sebastian/Donostia: https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/top10/towns/donostia-san-sebastian/aa30-12376/en/

There you go folks, wonderful spots in this beautiful City of San Sebastian aka Donostia, that I would love to visit again, eventually, Memories of my dearSpain ! Again, hope you enjoy the post on the City Hall/Library of San Sebastian !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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