The Town Hall is an elegant building by the architect Lucas de Longa, from the end of the 17th century. The main façade is decorated with three large coats of arms: The one of Gipuzkoa on the left, the one of the House of Habsburgs (or Austrias) in the middle, and the one of the town of Bergara on the right.
The façade also bears the engravings of two mottos inscriptions taken from the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastics:
- En casa del que jura no faltará desventura [In the house of he who swears there will be no lack of misfortune].
- que mucho lo de allá o que poco lo de acá [oh how much of that is there, oh how little of that is here].
Two of the pillars that support the arcade bear the engravings of the measures used at the markets held in the square. On one of these pillars, we can see the double vara or braza and a picture of something akin to a pair of scales. On the other pillar, we find the vara, the tile and the model depictions of a rooftile and a brick. Engravings of sample measures like these ones are very rare in the Basque Country.
Inside the building, the Council Chamber is worth a visit. It hosted the premiere of the comic opera “El Borracho Burlado” by the Count of Peñaflorida in 1764. The paintings hanging in the chamber today –forming a gallery of illustrious personages from Bergara– date from the final years of the 19th century.