On the southern edge of the open ground in front of the Shrine there rises a construction built with the same marble and in the same style as the College; it is the old Guest House. Today it continues to function as a subsidiary guest house of the Shrine, as well as to hold meetings, courses and retreats. It was renamed as the “Arrupe Center” on 28 June 2001.

Loyola had its first guest house built in the year 1690. Then, between 1713 and 1717, a new one was built when the construction work of the church and the college was interrupted on account of the War of Secession (1701-1714).

This new guest house, which occasionally gave shelter to Jesuit chaplains of Loyola expelled from the College (1868-1870), was enlarged in 1888 with the addition of another floor to be used as a retreat center for ladies and one more arch in the façade so as to make room for an access staircase to the new floor.

In 1919, the house was reformed in order to increase its capacity to 30 persons. In 1998, since there was the Spirituality Center close by, the building reverted to its original function as the subsidiary guest house for the Shrine.

For this purpose the building underwent a thorough transformation. The floors were emptied, the basic stone and wooden structure was strengthened, new floors and a bay window have been added in the back of the house. Reception, drawing room, kitchen and dining rooms are on the ground floor, and the first and second floors take 49 rooms of which 35 are single and 14 are double rooms, with a total of 63 beds. The Conference Hall and the Chapel occupy the third floor.

For further information and for booking, the address is:

Centro Arrupe
Santuario de Loyola
20730 Azpeitia (Guipúzcoa)
SPAIN

Tel.: 0034 943 025 026
Fax: 0034 943 025 032
E-mail: cel@i2000.es