San Telmo Museum — Attraction in San Sebastián

My partner and I had a wonderful time at this museum and we highly recommend it to others. The museum offers an enormous amount of exhibits for the modest price of entry and many are superb, including the various pieces in the permanent exhibition, including interesting examples of classical, modern and contemporary art works. The buildings that make up the museum are attractive in themselves, including the church and the cloister. For us, though, the standout was Vistiendo un Jardin (Wearing a Garden), a fascinating exhibition about the history of the art of plants, which focused on the 18th and 19th centuries when new understandings and representations of flora appeared, especially in textiles. It was stimulating to observe and learn about some of the relationships between science, aesthetics, fashion, exploration and colonialism, as they were embodied in sumptuous garments, purses and tapestries. How strange it was to marvel at some of the finest dresses, dresses and waistcoats decorated with tropical flora and fauna, and to imagine a time when most Europeans had never seen such things.

Sadly, we didn't have time to see everything, but this only adds another reason to return to San Sebastian another time. My only frustration with the museum is that I would have liked to see descriptions of each item in English. However, this didn't depreciate what was in general an enjoyable and rewarding trip. We look forward to returning...

This is a well-presented museum and can fill a couple of hours. However I expected more of a Basque point of view, when what it really seems to present is the history of the Basque region of Spain. So it has nothing to say about the Basque region that extends beyond the borders of Spain, little about the roots of Basque culture and why it has a different language to most of Spain, nothing that I saw about the language, gives no idea of the political drivers of Mondragon (the network of workers coops) and while the history of autonomy, nationalism and ETA is mentioned in passing it gives no sense of the oppression Basque people have felt that led to these movements. It also glorifies Spanish colonialism with not even a mention of the slavery and genocide this entailed. I know that museums often downplay anything seen as 'too political' but this one seems to do so to the point of being dishonest and often uninteresting. Ultimately I did not feel I learned much about the history of Basque culture through time, which is what the museum...

Pretty disappointing. I was hoping to learn more about the history of Basque culture, people and how it has been preserved over the centuries. However, whilst there are some highlights, there is also a large section which seems pretty irrelevant and also not that interesting. Additionally, 90% of the information boards are in Spanish and Basque, which is understandable but not good for tourists hoping to learn about the Basque history. Worth visiting if you have nothing else to do but otherwise I’d pass.

I went here wanting to get a better understanding of the history of the basque country and the people, culture etc.

The museum is a bit of a hodge podge of different eras and exhibits not set up in an easy to follow order. Skips from farmland to franco to technological progress etc. and many of the signs are only Spanish, compounding how hard it was to follow.

If you’ve got time to kill, couldn’t hurt going here. But I’d give it a miss, you’d probably learn more...