euskalkultura.eus

Maybe even better, sometimes good things come from bad, and in the opinion of some the new plaques are nicer and they also took advantage to update and improve some of the texts on them.  The installation took place in October and now the monument can once again be visited as it was, having recuperated its original splendor in Rancho San Rafael Park. 

Reno, NV.   This monument was inaugurated in the summer of 1989 complete with institutional paraphernalia (as well as governors and institutional representative from various western states, senior officials from Iparralde, the Government of Navarre, the Basque Government and Provincial Governments.)  During the recent economic crisis, the monument fell victim, as many others in the city, to looting and vandalism, with a large part of the bronze plaques being taken, and leaving the monument incomplete and somewhat soulless.

After work and management done by the park’s administration, namely Marie Fong and Andy Mink, along with Dr. Carmelo Urza (USAC), the plaques were recreated and installed, this time in aluminum, a material that isn’t as attractive as the former bronze ones. 

They also took advantage of this opportunity to take care of “some improvements and updates of the original texts that complete and discuss the work by sculptor Nestor Basterretxea,” who passed away in 2014, as Carmelo Urza told EuskalKultura.com. Urza is author of the book Solitude: Art and Symbolism in the national Basque Monument, precisely about the work by this sculptor form Bermeo.