"The Battle of Euskalduna" (1985)

Many of us have heard about the success of Bilbao and its process of urban regeneration. The Guggenheim Museum or the award winning Euskalduna Palace represents the new image of modern Bilbao, an example of city regeneration, worldwide recognised as "The Bilbao Effect". But what was there before? Does anyone remember the Battle of Euskalduna?

Urban regeneration sometimes seem to leave behind, perhaps deliberately, the history of these spaces. Places which witnessed a great economic dynamism and social/political struggles, on the context of what was called Welfare State. Below I present (in Spanish though) two fragments of the film "The Battle of Euskalduna", directed by Jose Angel Pascual more than twenty years ago. The battle erupted in 1984 following the threat of closure of the Euskalduna Shipyards (set up in 1900) which eventually ocurred in 1988. This is a dramatic, sad testimony of history of many of our cities, not only Bilbao, which though in my opinion should not be forgotten.

Please feel free to post here other still "living memories" of our cities which you would like to share..