Musée Chillida Leku Museums in Hernani

Chillida Leku: a unique museum in the heart of nature

Just 10 minutes from San Sebastián and 40 minutes from Biarritz, you'll find Chillida Leku, a unique museum where contemporary art merges with nature.

Chillida Leku was conceived by Eduardo Chillida as a meeting place between his work and the landscape. This unique space displays the most complete collection of the Basque artist's work, distributed between an open-air sculpture park and the historic Zabalaga farmhouse, a carefully restored 16th-century traditional house.

A space created by Eduardo Chillida and Pilar Belzunce

Eduardo Chillida and his wife, Pilar Belzunce, acquired the property in the 1980s and dedicated the next fifteen years to restoring it with extraordinary sensitivity, in collaboration with the Basque architect Joaquín Montero, who helped them shape their vision of the place.

When they arrived, the building was practically in ruins.
On the exterior, the farmhouse maintains its traditional appearance. Its mixed-construction walls alternate between masonry and ashlar, with the ashlar being particularly visible around the openings. Furthermore, the building retains two triangular buttresses on either side of the south facade. The structure also preserves its timber framing and the original coat of arms of the Zabalaga family carved into the north facade.

Monumental sculptures in dialogue with nature

At Chillida Leku, the sculptor created a place — leku means "place" in Basque — where future generations could experience his work as he imagined it, in an unparalleled natural and architectural environment.

The Chillida Leku garden, covering 11 hectares, is home to more than forty monumental sculptures. Thoughtfully placed, the works engage in a dialogue with nature, but also create a dialogue among themselves.

On one side, right at the entrance, there is the open area that in the original uses of the farmhouse was intended for grazing for the flocks.
In the garden, the sculptures can be touched to feel their different textures, and even experienced from within, as some of them contain interior spaces that visitors can walk through. The works invite visitors to walk around them and contemplate them from various perspectives.

In its new phase, Chillida Leku has transformed into an even more welcoming place, with a garden designed by landscape architect Piet Oudolf that greets visitors, a shop with a selection of design products inspired by the work of Eduardo Chillida, and the Lurra Café, where the experience continues with local and seasonal cuisine. This balance between respect for the original and openness to the present makes Chillida Leku a must-see for those seeking to connect with the essence of art and the land.

Temporary exhibitions

Geometric solids

Until October 26, 2026

Chillida Leku presents Geometric Bodies, an exhibition dedicated to the use of geometric forms in the work of Eduardo Chillida throughout his career. Like many other artists of his generation, Chillida sought to transform art through sculpture, not by breaking down the sculptural object, but by redefining its spatial presence. From this perspective, Geometric Bodies analyzes both the geometric sculptural object and the relationship of scale that the work establishes with the space that surrounds it.

Opening hours and tickets

The museum is open every day from 10:00 to 19:00, except Tuesdays.

The museum has free parking for visitors.

Prices:

• €14 for adults.
• €10 for groups of more than 10 people, students, and people over 65 years old.
• €7 for those under 18, people with disabilities, and the unemployed.
• €0 for children under 8 years old.

Tickets with guided tour :

• €20 for adults.
• €16 for students and people over 65.
• €10 for those under 18, people with disabilities or unemployed.

How to get there

Public transport

From Donostia-San Sebastián:
Bus BU05
Buses run every half hour from the city centre. The stop called 'Chillida Leku' is at the museum entrance.
For more information and timetables: Lurraldebus BU05