INSTITUTIONS ERAKUNDEAK A new Basque Police 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 Police Academy, 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 Alava, the Forales in Biscay There is a small shop on the ground and the Mikeletes in Gipuzkoa. 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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