Philip VI has praised the Bilbao Societybecause “it embodies both respect for a tradition marked by people and events of great significance, and commitment to our current world, in constant change.” The king spoke these words at the commemoration of the 185th anniversary of the foundation of the Bilbao social club and has assured that “that desire to be a link between past and present is the best guarantee for your future”.
Upon his arrival in Bilbao, Felipe VI was received at the entrance of the building, located on Navarra Street, near the Bilbao Stock Exchange, by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskathe first vice-lehendakari and counselor for Culture and Linguistic Policy, Ibone Bengoetxeathe president of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Weavingthe president of the General Meetings of Bizkaia, Ana Otadui, the mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburtoand the provincial deputy for Economic Promotion of Bizkaia, Ainara Basurkothe Government delegate in Euskadi, Marisol Garmendia, and the president of the Bilbao society, Ignacio Goiria Ormazabal.
Before, several dozen people have received the king outside with Spanish flags among applause and shouts of ‘Viva España’ and ‘Long live the King’. After the official photo and the honorary aurresku, Felipe VII posed with the members of the Board of Directors of the Bilbao Society, after which he went to the rooms where members and personalities from all areas of civil society are waiting.
In the toast offered before lunch, Felipe VI gave some first words in Basque to welcome to the attendees and to thank the Bilbao Society for its invitation on its 185th anniversary.
The king has wished members and friends of the Bilbao Society to stay “on course, always attentive to the feelings of each moment, both in the closest and in the broadest evolution of the world”, and has expressed certainty that this association “will continue to host meetings, conversations and exchanges of ideas, which are the foundation of a dynamic, participatory and open society to tomorrow”. He has expressed confidence that the Bilbao Society “will continue to be useful” to Bilbao and Bizkaia, and “therefore to the Basque Country and Spain.”
Felipe VI has highlighted that the institution “is sailing towards two centuries of history, and it does so with full sail: nourishing the cultural, social and recreational life of the town of Bilbao as it did in its beginnings, back in 1839, when a group of illustrious Bilbao citizens founded it –in the image of clubs in other European cities– and the entrance fee was, as I understand it, 40 reales de vellón”.
The monarch recalled that in 1926 he visited the Society his great-grandfather King Alfonso XIII, and now, almost a hundred years later, “I have the pleasure of doing so to celebrate with you an anniversary that surely preludes new pages of an important and exciting history, so deeply linked to that of the Town of Bilbao.” “It is, therefore, the first time that I visit you and I am frankly impressed. Let me tell you honestly that, for different reasons, I hope to be lucky enough to come more times in the future.“, he added.
Carlist War
The origin of the Bilbao Society was created with the initiative of 133 illustrious Bilbao residents that in the last phase of the First Carlist War they decided to found a social club similar to those that were appearing in other European countries.
In May 1839, the founders met and appointed the first Board of Directors. The first tasks of this commission were to select a suitable location for the new club and draft the first regulation by which the entity would be governed. The Bilbao Society started from that moment and the year after its foundation it already had 240 members and, at the end of 1843, there were already 300.
The space between the end of the Civil War (1939) and the celebration of the 150 years of the Bilbao Society (1989) It is marked by three special events: the building on Navarra Street turns 50 years old in 1963; The Bilbao Society created its country club, a project that spanned a period of six years (1969-1975); and, finally, the Villa is involved in the catastrophic flood of August 1983.
The Bilbao Society has highlighted that today it continues to be a reference in the cultural, social and recreational fields of Euskadi, with hundreds of activities of various kinds programmed each year, a building classified as an ‘Asset of Cultural Interest’ with the category of Monument, an extensive Catalog of Artistic Heritage and a library and newspaper archive with valuable collections, among other aspects. of interest.
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