| Architect |
Rafael Frontan |
| Date
Built |
1949 |
| Location |
Itxaropen
Kalea, just behind San Nicolas Eliza
church |
| Description |
|
Bilbao has a number of public lifts designed
to assist people in moving between the parts
of the city separated by significant
differences in height. The Begona
elevator was built in 1949 to a design by
the architect Rafel Frontan as a link
between the El Arenal neighbourhood and the
Old Town of Bilbao. Its Wikipedia page
explains that, "... it linked
directly with the train station known as
Bilbao Customs, later San Nicolás and
currently the Zazpikaleak / Casco Viejo
metro stop. It was built in reinforced
concrete and consists of a walkway that
reaches the viewpoint, ... starting from
this part a hollow vertical column that
transports passengers to the lower part
of the city." The elevator has been closed since July of 2014 and embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute between the concessionaire and the Basque Government over responsibility for its financial losses. In an article on the www.elcorreo.com website in 2018 Josu Garcia explained that the judges of the Supreme Court ruled that, ".... the Basque Government that left the company to die for the debts, when it was their responsibility to have maintained the economic profitability of a service that continued to serve a population nucleus, although it had far fewer clients than in the past for the social changes that occurred in Bilbao and the entry into service of the metro elevator."   |
|
|
Ascensor de Begoña,
Bilbao, Spain
 |
