For nine days in August, Bilbao calls its festival Aste Nagusia even when writing in Spanish, and the city’s giants leave a museum cloister each morning in kalejira. Two Basque words nobody translates, in a text where the giants themselves are translated.
What does Aste Nagusia mean? Great week, the name of Bilbao’s festival, running 22 to 30 August this year. Across those days Euskal Museoa Bilbao opens free to everyone, from 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, closing at 2pm on Friday the 28th and Sunday the 30th.
Aste Nagusia is Bilbao’s annual festival week, and its Basque name is used in official Spanish-language texts too.
What opens, and for how long
The nine days come with an unusual offer. From 22 to 30 August the museum opens free to the whole public, from 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, according to Euskal Museoa Bilbao, with two exceptions: Friday the 28th and Sunday the 30th, when it closes at 2pm.
That replaces its normal pattern rather than adding to it. Outside the festival the museum is free every Wednesday and closed on Tuesdays, a rhythm covered in the guide to Euskal Museoa’s free Wednesdays.
Transport stretches as well. The Artxanda funicular runs until midnight during Aste Nagusia, against the 10pm of its ordinary timetable, according to the municipal operator, as set out in the guide to the Artxanda funicular.
The line where translation stops
Reading the same official note in its two versions shows exactly where translation ends. The cloister exhibition is titled «Bilboko Erraldoiak» in Basque and «Gigantes de Bilbao» in Spanish, according to Euskal Museoa Bilbao. That one gets translated.
In the same note, kalejira and Aste Nagusia stay untouched in the Spanish text. Not an oversight: those are the words for the event and the festival, and local Spanish has no working equivalent for either.
The pair of titles also teaches a piece of grammar worth carrying: -ko works like the English of. Bilboko means of Bilbao, in the same way that Bilboko Udala is Bilbao City Council.
| Basque | English | How it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Aste Nagusia | Great week | Untranslated, even in Spanish texts |
| Kalejira | Street parade | Untranslated in the museum’s note |
| Bilboko Erraldoiak | Giants of Bilbao | Translated in the exhibition title |
| Bilboko | Of Bilbao | The -ko ending, a place genitive |
| Uhinak | Waves | Title of the Ra Asensi exhibition |
| Udala | Town council | On any institutional sign in Bizkaia |
What actually happens inside the museum
Three things share the building through the festival. The semi-permanent display covers Basque history and culture, «Uhinak» by Ra Asensi occupies the Kukula space, and «Bilboko Erraldoiak» fills the cloister.
That last one changes character for the week. Every morning the giants leave the museum to cross the Casco Viejo in kalejira and return to the cloister afterwards, where they stay on view for the rest of the day.
For a visitor that means the same ticket, which costs nothing during these nine days, covers a permanent collection, a contemporary installation and a street event, which is not how a museum usually works.
Where the giants come from
The figures at the centre of the week are not festival props built for the occasion. Bilboko Erraldoiak is a standing exhibition in the museum cloister, on view outside the festival too, and a second generation of giants is displayed at the San Francisco archaeological site, at Conde Mirasol 2.
That gives the parade a fixed address. Outside the nine days the giants are a museum piece behind a colonnade; during them they are the reason a street fills at a specific hour of the morning.
Planning the nine days
- Want a free museum → 22 to 30 August, no conditions attached
- Going on Friday the 28th or Sunday the 30th → doors close at 2pm
- Want to see the giants → they leave the museum every morning
- Going up Artxanda at night → the funicular runs to midnight
- Prefer it quiet → the rest of the year the museum is free every Wednesday
- Arriving on a Tuesday outside the festival → the museum is closed
Why next year’s dates will be different
Aste Nagusia does not fall on fixed dates, so this year’s 22 to 30 August will not repeat. What holds is the shape: nine consecutive days, with the programme concentrated in the Old Town and along the estuary.
Two things are therefore worth checking before booking: the exact dates and which venues extend their hours. The museum announced free entry for the full nine days; the funicular repeats its midnight closing within that same week each year.
For the rest of the calendar, the free days and closing days of the city’s museums are compared in the guide to Bilbao’s museums.
Frequently asked questions about Aste Nagusia
What does Aste Nagusia mean?
Great week. It is the name of Bilbao’s festival week, running from 22 to 30 August this year. Institutions keep the Basque name even when writing in Spanish, exactly as they do with kalejira.
What is a kalejira?
A street parade. During Aste Nagusia the giants leave the Euskal Museoa Bilbao every morning to cross the Old Town in kalejira, and the museum keeps the Basque word in its Spanish text rather than translating it.
Which Bilbao museum is free during the festival week?
Euskal Museoa Bilbao opens free to everyone from 22 to 30 August, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm. On Friday the 28th and Sunday the 30th it closes early, at 2pm.
What does erraldoiak mean?
Giants. The cloister exhibition is titled «Bilboko Erraldoiak» in Basque and «Gigantes de Bilbao» in Spanish, so here the museum does translate, unlike what it does with kalejira and Aste Nagusia.
Do the festival dates change each year?
Yes. Aste Nagusia has no fixed dates, so this year’s 22 to 30 August window will not repeat next year. What stays constant is the nine-day length and the concentration of events in the Old Town.
Nine days of free museum and giants in the street explain why the city calls this week the great one.