Hernani, Spain

Hernani is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The town sits on the left bank of the Urumea river. It is located at a distance of 9.2 km from San Sebastián. The municipality of Hernani occupies an area of approximately 40 square kilometres and is bordered by San Sebastián, Astigarraga, Arano, Elduayen, Errenteria, Lasarte Oria and Urnieta. From the town centre, at the foot of Mount Santa Barbara, it is possible to see a large area of the valley of Urumea. Its festivities, held between 23 and 27 June in honour of John the Baptist; and between his celebrations the popular "azeri dantza" (also celebrated in celebrations of Carnival) should be emphasized. The title character of Victor Hugo's play Hernani is named after the town.

During the Middle Ages, the territory that would form the province of Gipuzkoa was divided in valleys and Hernani was one of them. The valley of Hernani formerly extended through all the space surrounding the lower courses of the rivers Urumea and Oria. The valley of Hernani is first attested in a document whereby the Castilian count Fernán González of Castile grants vows in favour of the Monasteries of San Millan de la Cogolla, dating from the year 938 but believed to be a fake document from the thirteenth century. Dated from the late twelfth century, the donation document of the Monastery of San Sebastián to the Monastery of Leyre in Navarre by the king Sancho VI of Navarre states that the monastery of San Sebastián was in the borders of Hernani. When this Navarrese king founded the town of San Sebastián around 1180, the territory of the valley of Hernani was included within the jurisdiction of the new coastal town. It is not known when Hernani turned into a town, with its charter being lost in a fire along with other files. Some assume that the foundation of the town occurred during the reign of the king Alfonso X of Castile in the second half of the 13th century, when this king established a network of strategic towns dotting the route reaching the coast of Gipuzkoa, with Hernani as one of its strategic localities. Others delay the foundation of the town until the late 14th century in 1379, as a document of the 15th century cites an agreement between the councils of Hernani and San Sebastián for the use of the mountains of the valley of Urumea that took place in 1379, which attests to the existence by that time of the town Hernani. The town of Hernani extended its jurisdiction only to part of the old valley. It lost all the coastal and lower valley of Urumea now included in the San Sebastián strip, and the western area in the valley of the Oria, which became the town of Usurbil in 1371. Its western limit continued to be the Oria river, while on the east the mountains separated it from Oiartzun. The old town of Hernani sits on a 42 metres high rise towering over the left bank of the river Urumea and in turn located at the foot of Mount Santa Barbara. The old town was oval in shape, surrounded by walls with several entrances, of which only one (in Felipe Sagarna "Zapa" street) is surviving to date. It was originally made up of two streets, the High Street, Kale Nagusia, and Kardaberaz Street, intersected at the same time by a perpendicular lane (streets Nafarroa and its extension Felipe Sagarna "Zapa"). The first municipal ordinances go back to 1542, since copies of the 1512 ordinances disappeared during an invasion of the French army. The town has been subject to invasions and destruction numerous times throughout its history: the medieval factional wars, French invasions in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; as well as the hard sieges during the Carlist Wars and finally the 1936 Spanish Civil War. In October 1936, Hernani was the sight of a massacre of 200 civilians perpetrated by the nationalist forces. In 1986, Lasarte, a historical district of Hernani located in the valley of Oria, detached from the town following its rapid urban and demographic development.

The town lies on a traditionally Basque speaking area, with the municipality showing a Basque Spanish bilingual landscape.

Hernani is the biggest and most important of the towns with strong tradition in the artisan production of Basque cider. Together with Astigarraga and Usúrbil it is one of the areas where most of the Gipuzkoan cider houses (called sagardotegiak) are concentrated. There are many of these establishments in the city. During cider season (traditionally starting the Friday before 20 January and lasting until the end of May) the locality welcomes numerous visitors who come from Gipuzkoa and neighbouring provinces to the cider houses. The bars of the old town of Hernani usually have a special animation during the weekends this time thanks to these visitors.

The town festivities are held at the end of June, coinciding with the feast of St. John the Baptist (24 June). It is traditional that on the days 24, 25 and 26 June, coinciding with the celebrations, the previously mentioned Maskuri danza (dance of the bladder) or Azeri danza (dance of the fox) is held, a traditional dance, and now mostly known by the latter name because in the 1980s, a character with a mask made of a fox who accompanied him was added. The neighbourhoods of Hernani also celebrate their own festivals: Elizatxo Santa Cruz, Ereñozu San Antonio, Santa Barbara San Ignacio, El Puerto, the martyrdom of John the Baptist and Zikuñaga the Virgin of Zikuñaga.

The Chillida Leku museum in Hernani is devoted to the work of sculptor Eduardo Chillida, who was born in San Sebastián.

From the 1960s, there was a great increase in population, due mainly to the influx of workers from other regions of Spain (Castilla y Leon, Andalusia and Extremadura, mainly), attracted by work in the industry area. This growth paused by the crisis in the industry and the political situation in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1986 came the disengagement of the district of Lasarte, which became part of a newly created town called Lasarte Oria. That disengagement represented a loss of about 10,000 inhabitants in Hernani. In the last 20 years the population has remained fairly stable.

eu, the only Basque language daily newspaper. eu, a free radio station.

Club Deportivo Hernani is the town's football team. The club was founded in 1940. In 1955 it reached the Spanish Third Division of football. Its highest ranking was the Second Division B in 1991. Hernani Club de Rugby Elkartea (HCRE) is a highly respected rugby team playing in the Spanish Division of Honour. Its best result was in the 1983/84 season when it ranked second. The team is known for forming a lot of local players and bringing them out to the top division.

Juan de Urbieta (?–1553) : infantry soldier who imprisoned Francis I of France in the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Agustín de Cardaberaz (1703–1770): catholic priest, preacher and writer in the Basque language. Florentino Goikoetxea, Basque smuggler, who guided Allied airmen shot down in occupied Europe across the border from France to neutral Spain during World War II. José Manuel Lujambio, Txirrita (1860–1936): bertsolari, a singer of improvised musical verses in Basque. Champion of the Basque Country in 1936. Maialen Lujanbio (1976– ), bertsolari, a singer of improvised musical verses in Basque. Champion of the Basque Country in 2009 and 2017. Gabriel Celaya (1911–1991): poet of the post war generation. Elías Querejeta (1934–2013): filmmaker, producer, director and scrip writer. Martín Zabaleta (1949): mountain climber. First Basque person to climb Mount Everest. Pedro Ochotorena (1954): football goalkeeper. Ion Insausti (1984): International rugby player.