Museo San Telmo (San Telmo Museum), San Sebastian (must see)

The Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country was founded in 1765 by the Knights of Azcoitia. It serves the interests of the arts, culture, and the Basque territory. In the late 19th century, the society addressed a request to the Municipal Council to found a Municipal Museum.

The San Telmo Museum was established in 1932 at its present location at the San Telmo Monastery, erected as a Dominican convent in 1562. The convent held a church, cloister, and a tower. The building complex was shaped in a transitional style between Gothic and Renaissance, known as the "Elizabethan" style. The property was purchased by the City in 1929.

In 2011 the museum was refurbished and enlarged. Architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano designed an extension of two new pavilions. The new areas include cloakrooms, shops, events rooms, and a cafeteria. The facade features holes with vegetation bored into 3,000 molten aluminum panels.

The museum's permanent collections are housed in the church and refurbished original rooms. The collection has 200 artworks on show. They include masterpieces by notable artists El Greco, Joaquín Sorolla, Ignacio Zuloaga, and others. There are also items in the "Signs of Spirituality" section, modern bicycles and cars, and football jerseys of Club Bilbao.

Temporary exhibits are in the new sections. There have been showings of the films of Federico Fellini and Paolo Pasolini. The works of Modern artists Jorge Oteiza, Jose Luis Zumeta, Eduardo Chillida, Antonio Sistiaga, and Nestor Basterretxea are also on display.