Santutxu

Historia

Santutxu . It belongs to the 4th urban district, named Begoña. It is a popular residential neighbourhood which has also a relatively strong commercial area, including three food retail markets. It belongs to the 4th urban district, named Begoña, which is completed by three neighbourhoods, Santutxu, Begoña and Bolueta. Many believe Santutxu to be the most densely populated neighbourhood in Europe, despite all evidence to the contrary, but while the neighbourhood association has campaigned for more resources to be put in place in District 4, Santutxu is not even the most densely populated neighbourhood within Bilbao.HistorySantutxu, owes its name to a hermitage which was dedicated to Francisco de Paula. This hermitage was founded in 1737 by Francisco Fernando de Barrenechea among others, and was built with the sole purpose of enabling its colonists to hear masses without moving to Begoña church. Since both the hermitage and the Saint figure inside were small sized, it was popularly given the name Santutxu, Santuchu in Spanish. Moreover, the word Santutxu is the result of the union of two basque words, santu which means holy in basque and txu which is a diminutive suffix, also in basque.In those first years, every second of April was celebrated in honor of San Francisco de Paula with a Major Mass of great solemnity. Representatives of the Hall of the República de Begoña would attend this event, as well as members of the clergy that would take part in every religious event back in those days, where rockets, drumming and of course, a typical homemade Basque wine named txakoli or chacolí in Spanish, were the order of the day.