2-CAVALRY BARRACKS
Palacio Quintana, located on the present-day Plaza Erkoreka, next to the City Hall, stood out due to its towers at either side and large size, which led to its use as a Cavalry Barracks during the last Siege of Bilbao.
Alongside it, in 1872, Amadeo de Saboya had unveiled a monument to the memory of the auxiliary battalions of the First Carlist War (1833-1840) made up of citizen militias.
Also during the 1874 Siege, above the town and next to Mallona cemetery, two batteries were located: Diente, above the Fábrica del Gas [gasworks] and Cuervo o Choritoque. A little further, in the Basilica of Begoña, the Regional Guards faced the Carlists in the Convent of Santa Mónica.
After the end of the war, a monument was raised to the Martyrs of Liberty in memory of the four sieges suffered by Bilbao in the 19th century. It was demolished by Francoist troops during the Spanish Civil War. On 2 May every year, a civic procession organised by Sociedad El Sitio [Siege Society] climbed its way up to it.
