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The Astelena fronton, nicknamed ''Cathedral of Basque Hand-pelota'', is a fronton located in Eibar, El Astelena se prepara para su apertura
/ref> to meet current needs. The finals of the
The fronton was inaugurated in 1904 on the Feast of St John, the patron saint of Eibar, with a game to 22 points between local players ''Tacolo'' and ''Cantabria''. In October of the same year, Francisco Irusta, a local resident, presented a project to cover the open-air fronton, which was signed and approved by José Gurruchaga, the municipal architect.
Since the fronton was the only public closed space in Eibar, most important events of the town were celebrated there, including 
On 28 December 1969 the fronton was closed for renovations supervised by Cosme de Uriarte. The exterior appearance of the building was not changed, but door gate 9, which gave spectators direct access to the field, was replaced by a new door, and the window in the left wall was replaced. The re-inauguration took place on 8 October 1972, in a game played between Retegi I and Tapia. Luciano Gastañagatorre and Alberto Vidarte were the facility owners. The renovated fronton had a capacity of 1300 spectators.
On 28 December 1997 the fronton was closed again for renovations, after two years of being owned by
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.
Astelena is a short 41 meter-long fronton where hand-pelota and pala modalities are played. The field has a width of 11 m, and the wall a height of 9 m.
It was inaugurated in 1904 and has been renovated on several occasions, most recently between 2006 and 2007,/ref> to meet current needs. The finals of the
1st Hand-Pelota singles championship
The Bare-handed Pelota First League (''Campeonato Manomanista'') is the most important tournament competition of Basque pelota#Modalities, Hand-pelota category of Basque pelota. It was created in 1940, when the new Basque Pelota Spanish Federation ...
(1946, 1950, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1966, 1973 and 1999) and the Cuatro y Medio Euskadi Championship
The Cuatro y Medio Euskadi Championship is an individual championship of Basque pelota
Basque pelota (Basque: '' pilota'', Spanish: '' pelota vasca'', French: '' pelote basque'') is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball usin ...
final of 1992 were played at the Astelena.
History
The fronton was inaugurated in 1904 on the Feast of St John, the patron saint of Eibar, with a game to 22 points between local players ''Tacolo'' and ''Cantabria''. In October of the same year, Francisco Irusta, a local resident, presented a project to cover the open-air fronton, which was signed and approved by José Gurruchaga, the municipal architect.
Since the fronton was the only public closed space in Eibar, most important events of the town were celebrated there, including boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
matches, dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
s, cockfights
A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a " game", a sport, pastime or ent ...
, festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
s, and dinners honouring specific people.
In 1906 it was purchased by C. Aguirre, F. Bascaran, I. Irusta, M. Echeverría, M. Gómez, I. Vildósola, A. Eguiguren and B. Gárate.
The fronton suffered several damage during the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and was used as a barracks and dining place until 1940, when the 1st Hand-Pelota singles championship
The Bare-handed Pelota First League (''Campeonato Manomanista'') is the most important tournament competition of Basque pelota#Modalities, Hand-pelota category of Basque pelota. It was created in 1940, when the new Basque Pelota Spanish Federation ...
was established. On 20 November 1955 the 50th anniversary of the fronton was celebrated, despite both the day and year being wrong.
On 28 December 1969 the fronton was closed for renovations supervised by Cosme de Uriarte. The exterior appearance of the building was not changed, but door gate 9, which gave spectators direct access to the field, was replaced by a new door, and the window in the left wall was replaced. The re-inauguration took place on 8 October 1972, in a game played between Retegi I and Tapia. Luciano Gastañagatorre and Alberto Vidarte were the facility owners. The renovated fronton had a capacity of 1300 spectators.
On 28 December 1997 the fronton was closed again for renovations, after two years of being owned by Asegarce
Baiko Pilota —named Asegarce until January 2019
("Asegarce will be renamed ...
.
In 1998 ("Asegarce will be renamed ...
Aspe
Aspe (, ca-valencia, Asp) is a town and municipality located in the ''comarca'' of Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante, Spain.
The town is located in the valley of the river Vinalopó, from Alicante city. The economy of Aspe is based ...
purchased the facilities, which were reopened with a game between Goñi I Goñi may refer to:
* Goñi, Navarre, a village in northern Spain
* ''Almirante Goñi'', the former name of the ship HMS ''Broke'' (1914)
People with the surname
* Adrien Goñi (born 1988), Spanish football player
* Ainhoa Goñi (born 1979), Span ...
and Elkoro.
In 2004 a commemorative anniversary book was published.
On 1 March 2005 the fronton was again closed due to a disagreement among the owners (60% the Gaztañatorre family of Bilbao and 40% the Vidarte family of Eibar).
On 2006, it was purchased for 3 million €
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
by the municipality of Eibar and again closed for major renovations during 2006–2007, finally reopening on 20 May 2007.
Name
In a publicity move, the fronton was named ''Astelena'', which means Monday in Euskara, because on Mondays, being the first day after the weekend, workers were inefficient and used to attend pelota games instead of working a full day.Championships
1st Hand-Pelota singles championship
Cuatro y Medio Euskadi Championship
References
{{Basque Pelota Basque pelota Fronton (court) Eibar Sports venues in the Basque Country (autonomous community) 1904 establishments in Spain Sports venues completed in 1904