Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry
ALONG THE TIME

we propose to you to discover the wealths of our village while browsing an itinerary that takes the roads leading to the different districts of Baigorri to discover the historic heart of the village. In fact, it is about an exhaustive list of sites to discover because the village is widespread and include 17 districts! It is therefore difficult to organize a complete visit of the village.
The URDOS-BASTIDE district: Heading to Bayonne, turn on the left after the the fish farming. Go straight ahead until the Manechenea hotel then turn to the left. This quiet hamlet is situated in the foot of Iparla crests. On the so picturesque small room of the hamlet rises the home of Urdos Lords. It belonged previously to a family of Ahaxe. The district also detains a very beautiful chapel of the XVIIth century.
The GUERMIETTE district: Heading to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, turn to the right on the bridge and continue straight ahead. Turn right at the level of the restaurant the Gluttonous stage then on the left. Continue straight ahead. This district conceals magnificent houses decorated of lintels from the XVIIth century as well as an old laundrette .
The center of the village: The room of the pediment of the bottom: This place proposes a beautiful point of view on the main surrounding mountains. The mythical mountain of Oilandoi that culminates to 936 meters (mountain at the rear of the town hall) sheltered a hermit who prayed against bad weather once. One also guesses in front of Oilandoi the summit of the Ispéguy collar and its ravine that is impossible to circumvent (in direction to the Etxauz castle) as well as the summit of Buztanzelai. The pediment is a grant of the family of Arrast Abbadie commemorated by a plate dating back to 1857. The set of the place forms today the district of the town hall, with houses grouped dating back to the XVIIIth century, that had been separated before from the remainder of the borough. On the left of the pediment one finds the Iriberria house that includes a lintel relating to to an old social category of population: " I was born infançon, I will die infançon ". This population constituted the equivalent of the old middle class. The architecture of the building is typically low Navarrese.
The Mitchelene district: while leaving the place of the town hall, circumvent the war memorial by your right without taking the modern bridge.
This district was that of the canting hypocrites whose origin remains still mysterious atSt-Etienne-de-Baïgorry and in the province of Navarre. Various assumptions were put forth about them. They lived in this zone exclusively and were regarded as outcasts, put in margin of the society by the remainder of the population. The Roman bridge: it goes back to 1661. It is alloted this name because of its single arch which is similar to constructions of the Roman time. Today, the vestiges of the past attest that this bridge was very much used beacause one can see there many traces of wheels of carts which used the stones.
The castle of Etxauz offers a beautiful point of view since the Roman bridge. This building dominating the heights of Baigorry, composed of only one rectangular main building, is flanked in the North with two towers and in the South with two watch towers which are the vestiges of a medieval past (XIe S.). It carries the mark of the family of Etxauz which reigned during 5 centuries on the valley. Certain members were famous. Jean d' Etxauz, called the Grand Captain was consecrated Knight and was distinguished at the time of great battles. Bertrand d' Etxauz, was named bishop of Bayonne in 1599 and became the right-hand man of Louis XIII. In the Revolution, the castle is sold to the Harispe family from which the member Jean Isidore, future Marshal of France, was distinguished at the Napoleonean court. The castle was repurchased by the family of Abbadie d' Arrast whose Harry is the scenario writer of Charlie Chaplin who remained in the castle on several occasions.
The low –navarraise architecture (hamlet of house around the butcher Petricorena). The house unties a beautiful facade worked with a square door or disposed in bow of circle, prolonged by the eskaitza,which is a room that served for vigils and the works of the farm and notably for the agricultural tool storage. A balcony is located over the bottle (a part made up of sizable stone over the the door and amouningt until the balcony ;to see Gérard store photo road of the church) and permits the drying of the corn. One also meets the small openings permitting the ventilation of the hay. One also meets small openings allowing the ventilation of the hay. One often finds a longer side on the frontage which finds its explanation with the arrival of corn in XVIth century what implied an addition for engrangement cultuvation. The Basque house is functional and constitutes the central element of the Basque society.
.The park: From the Roman bridge continue straight in direction of the park.

The bust of the Harispe Marshal :
It is the emblematic figure of the village. His father repurchased the castle of Etxauz in the Revolution. He was distinguished at the time of the Napoleonean period. He obtained from Napoleon the permission to create a mode of light infantry: The Basques Hunters and was distinguished in many battles in particular in Arrola in 1774. Along your walk, you will be able to realize that the village comprises houses going back to different times. They are in particular more recent on banks of Nive. Indeed, the 3 principal times relating to the construction of the houses in Baigorri are XVIIth, XIXth and XXth centuries.
The district of the Church: leave the park towards the left and go up the principal street which leads to the church. The Harispe house: (on the left after the college). It is a noble house which entry immortalizes, by the presence of a red stone, the famous battles of the General.
The church of St-Etienne-de-Baigorry date back to XIth century and is of romano - Byzantine style. It holds for vestiges 2 columns with capitals, 2 galleries and the arc of the vault of Etxauz. One sees the door of the canting hypocrites (on the right of the principal entry) with a stoup which was reserved to them. The set of the 3 altarpieces are classified. It holds three galleries of floor what is relatively rare and which makes it possible to classify it in the prize list of the most beautiful churches of the Basque Country.
The organ of Rémy Malher was introduced into the church and was inaugurated in December 1999. The instrument weighs 7 tons and measures 7 meters of height. A part of the pipes is out of wood and the remainder out of metal alloy. It is about a true work of art which is registered in a harmonious way in the decoration of the church.