Santxotena parke museoa

Santxotena Park-Museum is an open-air sculpture park in Arizkun, a small village in the Baztan valley of Navarre, close to the French border. Spread across more than 30,000 square metres, the site groups eight timber pastoral shelters — known locally as bordas — each hosting wood carvings by Basque sculptor Xabier Santxotena. The park opened on 3 July 2003 and has since become one of the most distinctive cultural stops in the Baztan valley.

Where exactly is the park located?

The museum sits in Bozate, a historic neighbourhood of Arizkun, past the town of Elizondo, reached via the NA-2600 road branching off the N-121-B toward France. Bozate has long been linked to the Agotes, a community that lived in the Baztan valley for centuries under social exclusion — barred from trades other than carpentry and masonry, kept from intermarrying with their neighbours, and required to use separate church doors. Discriminatory laws against them were only lifted by the Parliament of Navarre in 1819, and traces of the prejudice reportedly lingered in Arizkun well into the 20th century. The park-museum is conceived as a tribute to this community.

What will visitors find inside?

Around 80 sculptures by Xabier Santxotena line the walking route. Santxotena works mainly with timber taken from the surrounding forest, shaping it into figures drawn from nature, local mythology and folk belief — an approach often described as organicist. The eight bordas act as themed pavilions, each grouping pieces around a shared motif rather than presenting them as an undifferentiated collection. None of the works sit behind ropes or glass: visitors can walk right up to them and touch the wood, a deliberate choice that makes the park unusually accessible.

Is the site suitable for visitors with limited mobility or families with children?

The path connecting the eight bordas was laid out as a barrier-free circuit, making it manageable for wheelchair users or visitors travelling with people who have reduced mobility. Because the route runs through wooded terrain, a walk through the park doubles as a quiet nature outing — the carvings are set among trees rather than displayed apart from them, so the landscape and the artwork read as a single scene rather than art placed on top of scenery.

How do you get to Santxotena Park-Museum?

The simplest approach is through Elizondo, the main town of the Baztan valley. From there, drivers continue along the N-121-B toward the French border and turn onto the NA-2600 into the Bozate neighbourhood of Arizkun. The surrounding countryside is typical of Navarre's Pyrenean foothills — green hills, scattered farmhouses and small villages — so a visit pairs easily with a broader tour of the Baztan valley.

Frequently asked questions

When did Santxotena Park-Museum open? The park opened on 3 July 2003 as an extension of the earlier Museo Gorrienea, which already held Xabier Santxotena's work.

How many sculptures are on display? Roughly 80 sculptures are spread across the park's more than 30,000 square metres, grouped into eight themed wooden bordas.

What is the significance behind the sculptures? The park was built as a tribute to the Agotes, a group historically marginalised in the Baztan valley and closely associated with the Bozate neighbourhood of Arizkun.

Can visitors touch the sculptures? Yes — the absence of barriers or display cases is one of the park's defining features, letting visitors approach and touch the carvings, which also makes the site accessible to people with disabilities.