Parliamentand formerly the convent of Santa Clara. The Free University opens in the wake of the revolution of 1868. The University operated from 1869, to just prior to the 1873–1874 terms, largely because of the second Carlist War. Chief academics were Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa, Julián Apraiz, Federico Baraibar, and so on. This latter, great Hellenist (1851–1918), was also among the first teachers of Basque in Vitoria-Gasteiz as an off-syllabus subject.
During the Spanish transition to democracy, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi was the scene of the March 3 Killing of 1976 after clashes between police and striking workers. Under the orders of Interior Minister Manuel Fraga, the police stormed on a shooting spree into a packed church into which demonstrators had retreated, resulting in five dead and over 100 wounded.
On May 20, 1980, by decision of the Basque Parliament, Vitoria-Gasteiz became the capital of the Basque Country
