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Enjoy the Murgia Honey Museum and learn about the incredible world of bees.
In the urban center of Murgia, at the entrance of the town, we find the Casa Oregi, a noble building owned by the town hall where the music school and the Honey Museum of Murgia are located, two organizations that strive to safeguard the Basque culture. The Honey Museum is presented to us as an interactive museum where you can learn by touching, smelling and seeing. A small and cozy space where to know in detail this traditional profession of Gorbeia, beekeeper.
Information about the Honey Museum of Murgia.
- Capacity: 25 people.
- Type of visit: Self-guided, interactive. Option of guided tour by reservation.
- Services: Sale of honey and bee products.
- Estimated visit time: 30-45 minutes.
- Price: 0€, free.
- Telephone numbers: 945 43 01 67 (Cuadrilla de Zuia) / 945 43 04 40 (Reservations).
Opening hours of the Honey Museum of Murgia.
The schedule of the Honey Museum of Murgia is somewhat complex, that is why we attach the schedule that we have provided from the tourist office.
Murgia Honey Museum Opening Hours
Honey Museum of Murgia, our visit in 13 questions.
The visit to the Murgia Honey Museum was brief but intense. A space of time in which we turned into a sponge to try to absorb all the concepts that we found on our way. During the visit we realized how little we know about this world and how interesting it can be. How about you? Do you know about beekeeping? How many of these questions do you know how to answer?
1.- What color do bees see the world?
2.- How long do bees live?
3.- How long has the importance of bees or honey been known?
4.- Why does each honey have different colors?
5.- How many kilometers can a bee travel in search of food?
6.- What is the hierarchy of bees?
7.- Which are the products we can obtain from a beehive?
8.- What type of honey predominates in Gorbeia?
9.- How many eggs can the queen lay per day?
10.- How were the beehives used in the baserris (Basque farmhouses) in the past?
11.- How do worker bees know to raise a new queen?
12.- What is the difference between a queen bee and a worker bee?
13.- What are the tasks of each type of individual in the hive?
How many answers do you think you know? Although the best way to know the answer to these questions is to go to the Murgia Honey Museum and get all of them from an expert in the field…. here, the answers:
1.- Green, blue and ultraviolet. Three colors, which together create a color image, like us. The only difference is that its 3 colors, all of them of similar tonality, create an image similar to ultraviolet.
It all depends on the type of bee (drone, worker or queen bee) and the time of the year, but it can be said that they have an average life of:
- Drone: 3 months.
- Worker: 50 days (5 months in winter).
- Queen: 2 to 3 years.
The most important and ancient cultures of the world venerated bees and their honey. Egyptians, Romans…
Everything depends on the flowers around the hive. The flowers they feed on determine their color.
A worker bee travels a maximum of 3 kilometers around its hive.
Queen, worker and drones. In a proportion of 1 queen, 30,000 workers and 200 drones approximately.
7.- Honey, pollen, jelly, wax and propolis.
8.- Heather honey.
9.- Up to 3,000 eggs per day.
10.- The hives of our baserris were built on the trunks of trees in the surroundings, hollowed out trunks.
11.- By means of pheromones, this chemical substance secreted by living beings is capable of indicating to the rest of the individuals in the hive the physical form of the queen at any given moment.
12.- Both types are identical when hatching their eggs, the difference is that the queen bee is fed with royal jelly during all her development and the workers only during the first 3 days.
13.- As we have already mentioned above, in a beehive we can distinguish 3 types of bees: drones, workers and the queen.
Tasks and functions of each type of bee:
- Queen: Breeding and keeping the hive healthy.
- Workers: cleaning the hive, building wax panels, storing food in the panels, tending, guarding the hive and collecting nectar, pollen and propolis.
- Drones: Procreate.
It is here, in this town in Alava, Murgia, where we find the headquarters of the Gorbeia Beekeepers Association, next to the museum, two entities united by the exceptional world of beekeeping that make known the importance of bees in our ecosystem. Do you want to know more about the Honey Museum of Murgia? Here are 5 points to get to know it in depth.
5 points to learn more about the Honey Museum of Murgia.
History: The Honey Museum of Murgia is a joint initiative of the town council and the association of beekeepers of Gorbeia to join forces and promote this almost forgotten profession along with its most coveted product, honey. In the year 2001, the museum began its journey, complemented by experiences around the honey made by the producers themselves.
Location: The Honey Museum could not be in a better location. Murgia, a town located in the heart of the Gorbeia Natural Park, one of the most emblematic natural areas of the Basque Country, hosts this museum. A perfect town from which to start one of the many hiking trails that can be found in Gorbeia. The access to the Honey Museum is at the back of the Oregi house, on the right side.
Children: The museum is suitable for all audiences. A video, an olfactory section, images, and different interactive panels are responsible for making the museum a dynamic space where the youngest members of the family can learn while playing.
Extraction: The extraction room accessed through the first floor of the museum, is undoubtedly a perfect complement to the museum, the place where one of the most characteristic honeys of the Basque Country, takes shape.
Experiences: Among the 50 members that make up the Gorbeia beekeepers association we find a wide range of experiences around beehives and honey.
If this article has caught your attention, write down, Museo de la miel de Murgia, Gorbeia.
For more information about the surroundings, the Gorbeia Natural Park, we recommend visiting the following Gorbeia tourist offices and their website:
Tourist Information Center of Orozko_Gorbeia north:
- Address: Plaza Zubiaur, S/N (Ethnographic Museum). 48410 OROZKO, Bizkaia
- Telephone: 946 12 26 95
Tourist Office of the Cuadrilla de Zuia_Gorbeia sur:
- Address: Plaza Bea Murgia. 01130 Murgia, Alava
- Telephone: 945 43 04 04 40 / 945 43 01 67
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