Durango was founded in around 1290, although the exact date is unknown as the founding charter has not survived. It is a populous and industrial town with important monuments. The urban structure is gothic in style with narrow streets in the old quarter.
The Kurutziaga cross that exists here has always been considered as a commemorative monument, rather more archaic than ancient, of great symbolic and iconographic value. Its originality makes it outstanding and it was capable of creating a school in Bizkaia where it is the leader of a long chain of commemorative crosses. The cross is gothic, dating from the 15th century, and consists of a high stone column wrapped in vegetation (apple tree) which metamorphoses into a humanised snake's head. Appearing around the tree is a complex iconography of the Genesis: the Temptation, the Sin of Adam and Eve, and their Expulsion from Paradise. Depicted on the drum are the figures of the apostolate. On the front of the cross itself, the Calvary with the crucifix, Mary and Saint John. On the back, there is a representation of Mary with the Baby Jesus in between two saints, Mary Magdalene and the bishop or monk. The mystery, the surrounding symbolism and the testimony provided by the monument in a late mediaeval context of heresy are the fundamental values of this cross.
