INSTITUTIONS ERAKUNDEAK A new Basque Museum of Euskadi

new Basque Po- lice Museum has A recently been opened at the Arkaute Academy. On display is an important collection of historical items rela- ted to the 1936 Ertzaña and the modern-day Ertzaintza as well as the local and provincial police forces which we- re the predecessors of the current Basque po- lice. The facilities add a new venue to any tour of institutional centres.

The new centre is located in the basis of research in various archives museum by one of the original police Basque , in Arkaute, since the original uniforms have long officers, who had carefully preserved it and occupies two storeys with a total since disappeared. over the years. There is also a list of all surface area of 1,200 sq. m. The mu- the Ertzañas who served in the force. seum is open to the public and reserva- THE 1936 ERTZAÑA The upper floor contains material tions can be made by contacting the relating to the present-day Ertzaintza Academy in Arkaute. It will be open in The second section is devoted to the and local police forces. There are com- the morning and afternoon. Ertzaña, created in 1936. This was the puter displays showing some of the to- The ground floor is divided into two first unified police force to operate th- ols used by the modern force, including sections given over to the Provincial Ar- roughout the whole of the Basque graphics programmes for making pho- med Forces and the 1936 Ertzaña res- Country and it survived until the coming to-fit portraits of suspects, used by the pectively. The Provincial Forces – set up of the Franco dictatorship. The display Ertzaintza’s Identification Unit. This on a territorial basis in the eighteenth contains numerous items from the time, area also contains one of the first century– were the forerunners of to- including an actual motorbike used by bomb-disposal robots used by the Ert- day’s Ertzaintza. They consisted of the the 1936 Ertzañas, presented to the zaintza. Miñones in , the Forales in There is a small shop on the ground and the Mikeletes in . The mu- floor of the museum, where visitors can seum contains a wide range of uni- • 36. urteko Ertzaintzak purchase publications from the Depart- forms, weapons and equipment from ment of the Interior, and others relating these forces, as well as documents rela- erabilitako materialak to the historical periods represented in ting to organisation, structure, rules, ikus daitezke museo the museum. The shop also sells souve- etc. Among the items on display in this nirs and other items related to the mu- section are a number of uniforms of the honetan. seum, the Ertzaintza, and to the Basque period –carefully reconstructed on the Country in general. ■

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