It's not a question of entering here into the long and at times dramatic history of the city since it was founded by López de Haro seven hundred years ago. But it might well be mentioned that after each rebirth, Bilbao happens to preserve within itself the best of its rich past.

Hence Bilbao is a multifaceted, pluralistic city. That preserves within itself many Bilbaos. The financial Bilbao coexists with the same old popular Bilbao, the erudite eighteenth-century Bilbao with the modern and contemporary. Thus there is an artistic and cultural Bilbao, a ludic Bilbao, a bohemian Bilbao, a gastronomic Bilbao, a sports-oriented Bilbao, and so on.And so Bilbao continues to be that economic and financial centre that was forged between the 19th and 20th centuries, whose banking system and stock exchange are today its most prominent expressions.

The dynamic Feria de Muestras (Trade Fair) and the Superpuerto del Abra (Abra Superport), to take two examples, provide testimony to the almost proverbial entrepreneurial spirit of the Biscayne capital since its very origin. Its gastronomy covers the full range of tastes and appetites, from the most innovative and modern restaurants to the most traditional,in the best sense of the term, whose identity finds its roots in an almost ancestral culinary memory.

Bilbao's rich cultural offering includes the spectacular Guggenheim Museum, its flagship, but its true breadth is much greater: the recently refurbished Museum of Fine Arts, the Euskalduna Auditorium, and the Arriaga Theatre provide an inexhaustible supply of activity in their respective fields.

And there, in short, we have that great commercial Bilbao: Based on and complementing these multiple and attractive aspects, between bridges and museums, between cultural and professional events, between leisure and knowledge, between the physical dimension and the new digital dimension of the city, the commercial Bilbao of the 21st century takes shape as a network of innovative and professional urban establishments capable of satisfying the needs, the yearnings, and even the most diverse caprices: from the simplest and most timeless to the most sophisticated and current.