The exhibition Architecture and sculpture in the Basílica of Aranzazu. First draft, project and construction (1950-55): the changes, (which complement the book under the same name within the collection Apuntes de Estetica Artium), illustrates the transformation suffered by the project of the Franciscan temple from its preliminary design to its final execution. This happened during the most important years of development in art and architecture in Spain. Both, the book and the exhibition, enlightens and explain the reasons of such evolution, beginning with the first draft wrought under the weight of Spanish autarchic ideology, and ending with the final materialisation of the building, which is considered the starting point of modernity after the Spanish Civil War. The display gathers many building plans and scale models showing such evolution. The exhibition belongs to the family files of the architects Luis Laorga and Francisco Javier Sáez Oiza, as well as to the Franciscan Convent of Aranzazu.

Architecture and sculpture in the Basílica of Aranzazu gives account of the complex and difficult process of construction of the temple and its statuary. This process began when in 1950, the preliminary design of the building, created by two young and, at the time, unknown architects from Madrid- Luis Laorga and Francisco Javier Sáez Oiza, won the contest for the construction of the Basilica. The process ended with Basilica's inauguration in 1955. The first draft presents some touches of modernity and many references to the work of Dominikus Böhn, the German architect who, during the 20s and 30s, injected the strength and dynamism of German expressionism into the sacred architecture of his country. Nevertheless, It is true that when the works of the Basilica were concluded in 1955, the building was much more modern than what it had been designed both, in the first draft of 1950, and in the written project of 1951. This transformation makes of the Basilica a milestone in post-war art and architecture, and marks the beginning of modernisation.

The reason for such changes can be found in the reestablishment of relations between Spain and the United States in 1949, thus initiating a gradual opening of Franco's isolation regime. This opening up to other countries, though not in a political or social way, did have its quick effects in what regards to art and architecture. It is from 1951 that the instructions of the Architecture General Direction are modified; changes in Spanish architecture between 1950 and 1953 are overwhelming and it is precisely during that period that Laorga and specially Sáenz Oiza transform substantially their initial project, already under construction.

Both architects correct, on the way, anything that can be rectified. However, they were not able to modify the traditional nave with transept and apse, whose walls where already standing. Astonishing as it was for the Franciscan community, Oiza, and Laorga introduced consecutive changes in the interior of the temple (a glass roof in the main altar, arches, sideways, a vault and the place of the holy virgin), that drastically alter the initial project. Changes in the outside of the building are also evident. In the façade, arches disappear and the statuary is entirely modified, the bell tower is also reshaped, often, under Oteiza's influence.

The exhibition shows a succession of building plans, rough studies, and photographs illustrating the transformations suffered both, in the interior and exterior of the Basilica during its long process of construction. One can clearly perceive the differences between the initial drafts, as well as Oteiza's first proposal, and the resulting construction and sculptural work achieved by the artist from Guipuzcoa.