San Sebastián began preparing to become a modern city in the 19th century, but Antiguo was still a quiet neighborhood at that time. There were farmhouses and some small houses along the Los Juncales canal. However, industrialization quickly changed the landscape. Many Antiguo residents still remember the smell of beer and chocolate in the Benta Berri area, where the factories of the companies Cervezas El León and Suchard were built, or the smell of soap and chemical products on the current Lizarriturry street, which came from the Jabones Lagarto factory. It became an industrial neighborhood that eventually had a total of 1,500 workers.

Of the old Lizarriturry and Rezola factory, only the workers’ houses remain, a row of modest houses with few ornaments, parallel to the road from San Sebastián to Lasarte, on Zarautz Avenue. The company was born in the 1860s and soon became popular when it began producing candles, glycerin, and paraffin under the brand La Providencia. The businessmen contacted the German inventor Peter Krebitz. His patents were very successful in Europe, and thanks to him, they managed to build one of the most modern factories. Also thanks to the French engineer Lambert. In 1914, Lagarto soap was created, the name with which the factory became popular.
The Suchard chocolate factory was also located here. From 1961, they began manufacturing not only chocolate but also Sugus candies.

The seed of the Cervezas El León factory was planted by German master brewer Anthony Kutz. He arrived in San Sebastián in 1867 and opened a brewery and ice cream parlor called Strassburgo, east of the city, in Ategorrieta. The good reputation of his beer recipe encouraged his descendants to start and open Cervezas El León in Benta Berri in 1890.

In recent years, in the place where those businessmen built their first factories, educational and research centers have been created: the UPV University Campus, BioDonostia, CIC Nanogune, and the Donostia International Physics Center. Furthermore, research centers continue to grow. In the field of quantum technology, a joint project between Basque institutions and the technology company IBM will allow the installation of the world’s sixth quantum supercomputer at the center called IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computational Center.

We usually associate most of San Sebastián’s imagery with La Concha bay, taking prominence away from the Urumea River, but… if it hadn’t been for the river, would it have become a mercantile city? The Urumea River was a great source of wealth for numerous families, and for many of them, it meant a livelihood: a river for buying, selling, and transporting goods. We can say that since the 16th century, it became a kind of transportation highway.

Cider was the most common merchandise transported along the Urumea. The drink was produced in the farmhouse-cider mills on the banks of the Urumea and later consumed in San Sebastián and its bars, even farther away, as Basque fishermen who made trips to Newfoundland used cider as a drink against scurvy. The fishermen spent months without setting foot on land, and cider was one of the items they carried to survive on the boats. In addition to quenching thirst, the drink was ideal for preventing infections and diseases. The ships departed for Newfoundland from Pasajes.

The current situation has nothing to do with the past, when swimming competitions, boat building, and regattas were common. The river was used for work, leisure, and enjoyment. The Urumea River also witnessed a new invention. In 1893, the San Sebastián businessman and entrepreneur Ramón Barea created the nautical velocipede, which later spread worldwide.

We are at the headquarters of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. While at the end of the 19th century factories and other large infrastructures began to be built in the peripheral neighborhoods, the textile industry and fashion gained strength in the streets of the center. The city became one of the main summer resorts for the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. They used to stroll around dressed in the most elegant pieces and the latest haute couture novelties, so that, together with Biarritz, the city also became one of the centers of fashion internationally. Therefore, many city residents began working in the fashion sector, especially women: seamstresses, milliners, fitters, embroiderers, and fabric cutters. The shops here also adapted to the needs of the new clients.

Additionally, Donostiarra fashion had a great international ambassador: Cristóbal Balenciaga. Before opening his own business, he worked at two tailoring shops in the capital. In 1918 he founded the company Balenciaga y Compañía, with which he achieved great popularity for six years. When the company closed in 1924, he settled on Avenida de la Libertad, on the first floor of number 2.

Right in the city center, we can also follow the traces of that process of change that occurred at that time. These two Belle Époque buildings were destined for the training of businessmen, engineers, and workers, responding to the city’s service needs. Thus, the current Koldo Mitxelena library hosted two projects related to education. The first was the Guipúzcoa Secondary Education Institute. Later, the Higher Engineering School was launched, which began its journey in 1961. It is the fourth oldest engineering school in the country. The Provincial Council’s objective was to train future workers for Gipuzkoa’s new industrial activities. They left their headquarters in the Center in the 70s and moved to the Ibaeta neighborhood. The library opened in 1993 under the name Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea.

The current Post Office building was a reference center in vocational training: it was the School of Arts and Crafts. Many merchants, artisans, and city workers were educated in this school until its closure in 1944. The creation of a school of arts and crafts was the way to address the commercial boom the city was experiencing and its commitment to being a service city. For many women, it was a way to get their first job. In the 60s, it became the headquarters of the current Post and Telegraph Office.

Alza is a neighborhood in the east of the city with its own character. It was formerly independent, and in addition to the current Alza neighborhood, it also encompassed Bidebieta, Herrera, Intxaurrondo, and part of Ulía, reaching as far as the bay of Pasajes. In the heart of the Alza neighborhood, in Plaza de San Marcial, is the old Alza Town Hall building, and next to it is the San Marcial church.

Alza is the part of the city most transformed by industrialization. Around the port of the bay of Pasajes arose most of the industrial activities: shipbuilding, fishing, and production of anchovy and cod preserves, among others. Around the Luzuriaga shipyard, there were many other factories and workshops. As a curiosity, the railing of La Concha in San Sebastián was built by the Molinao foundry, which would later become part of Luzuriaga.

If we go back in time, we can remember the period when Bidebieta and Herrera had a dock. Many neighbors still remember the smell of cod and fishing nets left to dry here, and it’s that Bidebieta used to be next to the port, which was the main engine of the area’s economy.

Near here, at the entrance to the bay of Pasajes, you can visit the Albaola Museum. It evokes the maritime adventures of the Basque Country in America in the 16th century through the stories of whalers and their vessels.