Santa Ana Hermitage

Santa Ana Hermitage, in Pasai Donibane, watches over the entrance to the port and the bay from its location on the hillside. Although little is known of its origin, we do know that it was built in 1758.

This is a simple religious building with a rectangular ground plan, single nave and elevated choir at the rear of the building typical of churches in Gipuzkoa. The vestry is a small room backing on to the left-hand side of the altar area. The main entrance beneath the choir has a semicircular archway, while there is another access on the south facade with its three rectangular windows through which light streams into the church.

The image of Saint Ann with the Virgin Mary is a real gem thanks to its manufacture, age and polychrome work. This image was acquired in Flanders in 1573 and brought by ship to Pasaia.

The building, of simple layout and austere surface, is in an acceptable state of preservation. Its main feature is the fact that it looks so pretty on the hillside, standing on a large terrace from which we can see what's happening in the port and even in the sea.

The little tower topping the Hermitage is currently used for practice manoeuvres by pilots and seamen learning how to direct ships through the mouth of the channel. Every year, a celebration is held on Saint Ann's Day, 26 July, with a mass in the hermitage followed by the distribution of soup to all of those present.