Aragon Guide

Zaragoza possesses many architectural treasures, along with its museums and chruches which contain fascinating Roman Moorish, Jewish and Christian artefacts. The Ebro river forms a major part of the cities landscaping. The best way to discover Zaragoza's monuments is to stroll through its streets. You will feel all the wealth of its 2,000 years of history.

Pavilion Bridge - Zaha Hadid and Arup projected the Pavilion Bridge for the Zaragoza Expo 2008, one of the central features of the Zaragoza Exhibition in 2008. The theme of the concept was 'Water for Development'. It is an 'aesthetic and emotional' bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Ebro. The Pavilion ...

Rivers Aquarium - This Aquarium dedicated to waterscapes proposes a natural trip round the great rivers of the planet: Ebro, Nile, St. Lawrence, Amazon, Mekong and Darwin. Europe’s largest freshwater Aquarium will contains 5000 specimens representing 300 species and allow visitors to tour the ecosystems of ...

Metropolitan Water Park And Beach - A 296-acre urban park provides sporting and recreational facilities and includes: Los Sotos Natural Park, a wetlands area, a Botanical Garden and network of lagoons with a white water channel, pools, children’s play areas and a beach (known as "Las Playas" and very popular in ...

Basilica del Pilar - Rising from the banks of the river Ebro as it passes through Zaragoza is the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pilar, a jewel of Aragonese Baroque art. The Cathedral, visited dialy by thousands of the faithful and pilgrims, houses the image of our lady of the Pilar. According to tradition, the Virgin ...

La Seo Cathedral - La Seo del Salvador reflects the history and the art of Aragon. First of all, it was the High Mosque of Sarakosta (Zaragoza in Moslem ages). The construction of the Romanesque Cathedral was begun during the second half of the 12th century. The rebuilding of the Cathedral in Gothic style took place ...

Santa Engracia Church - The extraordinarily beautiful facade, carved in 1512 by Gil Morlanes the elder, and finished by his son is the only part of the previous enormous monastery which remains; during the Peninsula War the rest of it was destroyed. The facade is Plateresque in style with figures such as the Catholic ...

Escolapios School and Santo Tomas de Aquino Church - This ancient Zaragoza school was founded in 1733 and both it and the church were built through the generosity of the Archbishop. It is a baroque building that dates back to 1740 and has a large tri-partite façade flanked by two towers and only one nave inside. In the 70s Avenida Cesar ...

San Fernando Church - A beautiful example of neo-classical religious architecture in Aragon. It was built by Ramon Pignatelli as parish church for the families who had worked in the construction of the Imperial Channel of Aragon. The paintings of the altar were made by Goya around 1800 and destroyed during the Peninsula ...

Cartuja de Aula Dei - On the walls of the church of the Carthusian monastery of the Aula Dei (12km north of Zaragoza City), Goya painted a cycle of scenes in oils of the Life of the Virgin Mary. It is the most extensive of his works, although of the eleven passages, only seven remain and some of those with partial ...

San Antonio de Padua Church - Alongside the church and the convent of the Franciscan Capuchines is the Italian Military Chapel, built under the patronage of the Mussolini Government in 1940 as a monumental Mausoleum for the Italian combatants who died during the Spanish Civil War. Address: Paseo Cuellar ...

San Miguel de los Navarros Church (St. Michael of the Navarrese) - This originally Romanic construction was amplified in the 14th century with new mudejar additions and later, baroque reformations were carried out. The most notable mudejar decoration is to be seen on the outside of the apse. The tower, which has also been restored, is based on a square and has ...

San Gil Church - Archetype of 14th Century Aragonese mudejar, reorientated and redecorated during the baroque period. The tower, on a square base and with a rectangular body is a singular expression of the art of brickwork as developed by the mudejar, replete with rhombi and intertwined. Address: D. Jaime I, ...

San Juan de los Panetes Church - The baroque temple was started in 1725 on the site of a previous church which belonged to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Of note is the octagonal brick tower, well known for its curious inclination and which conforms to the building traditions of the 16th Century. Address: Salduba, ...

Church of San Pablo - The church of San Pablo was raised to replace the old Romanesque hermitage of San Blas, which had become too small due to the growth of the district. The current temple is the result of a series of additions, which gradually increased the original 14th century nucleus, the most valuable testimony ...

Church of the Magdalena - It was erected at the start of the 14th century to replace a previous Romanesque temple. Its typology corresponds to the model of a single-nave church, with chapels between the buttresses and polygonal sanctuary. The temple changes its orientation during the 18th century reform, the new access door ...

Santa Isabel de Portugal - In 1678 the Council of the Kingdom of Aragon decides to erect a temple in honour of Santa Isabel de Portugal. After reaching and agreement with the Teatine fathers (of Cayetanos, thus its other name), in 1681 the work begins on the plot of land, which the latter have reserved for their convent. ...

San Felipe Church - The current church of San Felipe and Santiago el Menor was begun in 1686 , after demolishing the previous building, which had become too small due to the increase in parishioners. The family of the Marquis of Villaverde play an important role in promoting the new construction work; they give the ...

Our Lady of the Portillo Church - Its origin dates back to the time of the Reconquest, linked to a miraculous intervention of the Virgin, who saved the city from a Moslem attack in 1137. The Baroque construction of the 18th century has been the object of important interventions throughout the 19th an 20th centuries. Its location, ...

San Ildefonso (Santiago) - This church is the only remains that we preserve of the old convent of San Ildefonso, abandoned on the occasion of the Desamortizacion de Mendizabal (confiscation of Mendizabal) (1835). In 1902 it became the seat of the parish church of Santiago, whose church had been destroyed previously. The ...

San Carlos Borromeo - The School and Church of the Inmaculada, belonging to he Company of jesus were raised on the plot of land previously occupied by the Higher Synagogue of the Jewry of Zaragoza. In the 18th century the whole interior ornamentation of the church is renewed – designed by brother Lacarre-, making ...

Camon Aznar Museum - Lovers of fine arts must visit the Camon Aznar Museum. It occupies the Renaissance palace of Pardos and includes an extensive artistic sample, the majority of which comes from the legacy of the illustrious academician from Zaragoza, Jose Camon Aznar. Address: Espoz y Mina 23 (Tues-Fri 9am-2,15pm ...

La Lonja - Between the Pilar and La Seo, alongside the Ebro, the beautiful Lonja rises up; undoubtedly the most important exponent of civil architecture of Zaragoza. Used for trading transactions –especially those propitiated by the river navigation. The building was started in 1541 and was concluded, ...

Zaragoza Museum, Zaragoza City - The Museo de Zaragoza, at Plaza Sitios, 6, was made in 1909 for a Spanish-French exposition as the Pavillion of Arts. The allegories of Sculpture, Painting and Architecture are situated on the main facade, with industry and Trade on the side towers. The outer walls of the museum are decorated with ...

Roman Public Baths Museum - The Roman Public Baths Museum is, together with the Roman theatre, the river port and the Foro museums, one of the four museums in Zaragoza where you can visit the archeological remains of the ancient Roman colony of Caesaraugusta. The exhibition includes the remains of the latrine-room and the ...

Roman Port Museum - This museum, together with the Roman Public Baths Museum, the Roman Theatre and the Foro Museums, is one of the three sites in Zaragoza where the visitor can view the archaeological remains of the ancient Roman colony of Caesar Augusta. It is possible to actually see the remains of the harbour ...

Forum of Caesaraugusta Museum - This archaeological area of the Forum of Caesaraugusta Museum offers us a vision of the daily life in the city during the period of its foundation by the Romans (between 19 and 14 B.C). These archaeological remains pertain to a market of the period of Emperor Augustus and the town forum, built in ...

Roman Theatre Museum - The Roman Theatre was discovered by chance in 1972 when the construction of a new building in Veronica street began. The theatre, built in the 1st century, within the town fabric, stood out from the rest of the buildings as a point of reference in an essentially flat landscape. As time passed, the ...

Zaragoza History Centre - The Zaragoza History Centre is located in the ancient San Agustin convent, which formed part of the city's defence line in the famous "Sitios" or Sieges in 1808 and 1809, during the Peninsula War. The Convent of San Agustín was built at the end of the 13th century, remaining and ...

Patio de la Infanta - The Patio dela Infanta is the best Aragonese Renaissance patio and was part of a sixteenth-century palace which collapsed after three fires. In 1903 the patio was sold to a French antiquarian who took it to his shop in Paris. In 1957, local Savings Bank Ibercaja bought it and stored it until 1980, ...

Pablo Gargallo Museum - The beautiful 17th-century late Renaissance Argillo Palace in the heart of the old town houses this museum of Pablo Gargallo's sculpture. The famous Aragonese artist was one of the most important figures in the early 20th-century European avant-garde movement and he was heavily influenced by Rodin ...

Pablo Serrano Museum - The Pablo Serrano Museum is dedicated to the work of the famous Aragonese sculptor (1908-1985). The former workshops of the provincial orphanage have been restored and remodelled to house the collection belonging to the Pablo Serrano Foundation. The Pablo Serrano Museum holds 140 varied ...

Morlanes House - This house belonged to the Morlans family which in addition to being of noble lineage and enjoying considerable wealth, were the most important sculptors of the 16th century. Of the original building only the brick façade remains. The balconies are flanked by tapering columns (estiptes) and ...

Sastago Palace - A renaissance edifice, built between 1570 and a1574 by Don Artal de Alagon, third Count of Sastago and Viceroy of Aragon. Of note is its sober brick front, somewhat modified from the original, and the slender columns of the courtyard, one of the most elegant and harmonious of those still preserved ...

Justicia Monument - The Justicia Monument was erected in 1904 as result of the collaboration between the architect Felix Navarro and the sculptor Francisco Vidal. It represents Don Juan V de Lanuza, last justicia (Supreme Judge of Aragon), executed by order of Philip II and the lost of the Aragonese institution, not ...

Plaza de los Sitios (Monument to the Sieges) - The Spanish-French Exhibition was held in Zaragoza in 1908, in memory of the Peninsula War and to unite both countries. For this event with more than 5,000 exhibitors, a site was prepared between Avenida Independencia and Huerva River. This is now Plaza de los Sitios, which contains striking ...

Primo de Rivera Park - An ideal place in which to escape the noise and pollution caused by city traffic, this huge park offers many attractions. It has a landscaped garden area with fountains in addition to botanical gardens and a large wild area planted with pine trees. The central part that extends from the entrance to ...

Imperial Channel of Aragon - At the end of the 18th Century, the Spanish king Charles III gave Ramon Pignatelli the enormous task of creating a great navegable waterway which would link Cantabria and the Mediterranean. Only 150km were built, from Bocal, near Tudela, Navarra to El Burgo de Ebro, near Zaragoza. It currently ...

Alfonso I Monument - The idea of erecting a monument to Alfonso I "the Battler", king of Aragon arose on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the reconquest of Zaragoza (1118). This monument was built in the Buenavista Hillock of the Primo de Rivera Park in 1925. On the base, there is a bronze lion, ...

Princesa Fountain - The Princesa Fountain is popularly known as Neptuno Fountain. It was the first urban monument fountain of Zaragoza, the most centric and the main one. The Princesa Fountain was located in the then San Francisco Square and Today España Square. It acted as a water supply until 1902, when it ...

Samaritana Fountain - This fountain, originally situated in the Plaza de la Seo, was designed as a water supply point and as an ornamental element, which emphasised the importance of this historical urban space: its move to its present location dates from the sixties. It was cast in the Averly workshops following French ...

Martyrs Monument - This Martyrs of Religion and of the Country Monument has been located in the plaza de España since 1904, in replacement of the Neptune Fountain, which had lost its function with the arrival of running water. The aim of the new monument was to perpetuate the memory of the Innumerable Martyrs ...

Pignatelli Park - The park was raised to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the construction of the Imperial Channel, which was finished due to decisive promotion by Ramon Pignatelli. The statue of Pignatelli was designed for the Glorieta in Plaza Aragon, where it stayed until 1904, date when it was moved to its ...

Agustina Zaragoza Monument - A work by Mariano Benlliure, it is inaugurated with the attendance of the Monarchs of Spain, within the commemorative acts of the Centenary of Zaragoza Siegues. Its topographic situation is fully justified. This place was one of the most important exclaves of the Zaragoza defence against the ...

Caesar Augustus statue - This statue was given by Mussolini's Italian government to Zaragoza in 1940 and is a bronze copy, forged in Naples of the original Augustus Prima Porta which is in the Vatican. It shows the emperor dressed as a general and haranguing his troops, and on his breastplate you can see symbols of some of ...

Iron Bridge - An important work in metalic engineering, built in 1895 to join the populous district of the Magdalena with the Arrabal. It is also known as the Puente del Pilar (Pillar Bridge). Address: Paseo Echegaray y ...

Stone Bridge - The oldest bridge over the Ebro. 15th Century gothic style, it has been restored on numerous occasions after flooding of the Ebro. Of note are the bronze lions by Francisco Rallo. Address: Paseo Echegaray y ...

Monument to “La Torre Nueva” - A slim, original, mudejar tower, 70 meters high, was finished in 1520. Built for the good government of the courts, assitance to the sick, and regulation of the life of the neighbourhood, it have individuality to Saragossa and immediately took, root in the hearts of the people. In 1892 it was ...

Carmen Gate - Built by the architect Agustin Sanz in 1789, it is one of the gates which gave entrance to the city in the 18th century and which suffered the effect of the Sieges. It is built like a Roman Triumphal Arch and responds to Neo-classical models. Address: Paseo Pamplona / Avda. Cesar ...

Roman Walls - Caesaraugusta was surrounded by a wall with numerous towers, perhaps as many as 120. The walls were extremely thick, up to 7 metres in places, whit alabaster and limestone block exteriors and an extraordinarily hard mortar interior (opus caementicium). Its towers were semicircular or ...

Arch of the Dean - This is one of the most emblematic corners of our city. It originates in the 13th century, when a construction was planned, which would connect the cathedral to the new house of the dean, head of the chapter after the prelate. The current arch, well restored, responds to the reform carried out in ...

Casa Juncosa - This flamboyant building was built in 1906 by the architect Jose de Yarza. Casa Juncosa was a expensive construction for the wealthy bourgeois of Zaragoza. Modernism ideas are expressed here in a exhuberant floral decoration, executed in worked stone and wrought iron. This ornamental splendour is ...

Casa Retuerta - The Casa Retuerta was built in 1904 in one of the best planned sectors within the urban expansion area of the city. The situation of the house, in the angle of two important streets allowed the architect Juan Francisco Gomez Pulido to concentrate his attentiont in the corner, which was solved ...

Casino Mercantil - The Casino Mercantil was built in the plot of land, which the palace of Don juan de Coloma, secretary of Fernando el Catolico, the Catholic King, previously occupied. The facade was made in 1912 by Francisco Albiñana, and is one of the most impressive modernism buildings in Zaragoza. It is ...

Calle Prudencio Building - This Building was the first built by the Zaragoza architect, Jose de Yarza Echenique, a student of the school of Barcelona and educated in the compositive language of catalan Modernism. The use of brick as a basic construction element does not remove lightness from the facade, which is extremely ...

Calle Manifestacion Building - This building, attributed traditionally to Ricardo Magdalena, was really designed by the architect, Julio Bravo. The composition of its three facades maintains the common characteristics of Zaragoza Modernism. The walls are made of brick, whilst the stone is reserved for the low part and as an ...

Casa Molins - This work by Fernando de Yarzo is one of the best examples of modernist aesthetics in our city and of the integration of the new style within the historical quarter. The two-street facade is solved with the typical cant, decorated with wavy, rhythmic shapes inspired by Nature. It has a ground ...

Modernist Bandstand - The Modernist Bandstand was designed by the Martinez Ubago brothers on the ocasion of the Hispano-French Exposition of 1908. Before its current location it was situated in the Plaza de los Sitios and in the Paseo de la Independencia. Its baldachin structure is erected on a stone base; eight cast ...

Chamber of Commerce - Former site of the Zaragoza Exhibition Centre for Trade Fairs, the building was designed by the Borobio brothers and Jose Beltran Navarro. They used historical schemes with a suggestion of mudejar. Of nothe is the slender light tower, 56m high, which was built in 1940 as a landmark and emblem of ...

Auditorium Congress Palace - This building of truly great proportions was built in 1994 from the design of Manuel Perez Latorre. It has a portico raised on pillars of great height and houses an ample complez of modern facilities with capacity for ten thousand people. It is a pioneer for its versatility, handling concerts, ...

Former Capitania General - Built by order of the Army Engineers in 1893 in Neo-classic style, the former Capitania General has an irregular ground plan due to the elliptic shape of the old Glorieta de Pignatelli present-day Plaza de Aragon. Inside, the great staircase presided over by the bronze statue of General Palafox ...

Don Pedro de Luna Palace - Zaragoza blossomed in the 16th century. This striking palace is an example of the power of the nobility. It is also called Condes de Morata Palace and was built on the Roman wall. The front entrance, with its rounded arch and beautiful decorations is of especial interest, flanked by two figures of ...

The Mercado Central (Central Market) - The Central Market is erected in the same place that the city market has occupied since the 13th century. The building, inaugurated in 1903, was not designed as an isolated building, but it formed part of a town planning action aimed at transforming the surroundings of the square, this remodelling, ...

Former Faculty of Medicine & Sciences - This is one of the most successful works by the architect Ricardo Magdalena; a building which responds to the historical tendency of the time, where the models of the Aragonese Renaissance Palaces are reintroduced. Following this tradition, it is made of brick, with application of polychrome tiles ...

Post Office Building - The Post Office building was erected on the land where the old Pignatelli theatre existed, which was demolished in 1915. The architect, Antonio Rubio, designs a piece of work which represents a late attempt to recover Mudejar forms, as shown on the main facade which opens onto the Paseo . the inner ...

Joaquin Costa School - Joaquin Costa (Born in Monzon, Aragon in 1846) was one of the predecessors of The Generation of 98 (Spanish literary and cultural movement which proclaimed a moral and cultural rebirth after the loss in 1898 of the country's last colonies). Concerned the country’s political problems, he ...

La Misericordia Bullring - The first stable bullring of Zaragoza was built in the 18th century thanks to the initiative of Ramon Pignatelli; the name of Coso de la Misericordia (Arena of Mercy) referred to its link with the Royal House of Mercy, which was maintained partly thanks to the profits gained with the bull ...

Pignatelli Building - It was built in the 18th century as Casa de Misericordia, an orphanage and poorhouse. Ramon Pignatelli, promoted its construction. While it was an orphanage, the building was maintained by the money collected from bullfights. During the War of Independence this building became a military hospital. ...

Gascon and Marin Schools - This building next to the –School of Applied Arts, was started in 1911 from plans of the Architect Jose Yarza. The most autstanding feature of this brick built school is the curved main entrance at an angle of the building and in which is concentrated all the decoration of Neo-Renaissance bas ...

Torrero Palace - Recently rehabilitated as the headquarters of the College of Architects, the house of the Torrero family is one of the oldest of its era in the city (1500). The most important parts of the original are preserved in their original condition; (upper balconies and eaves the plan of the building and ...

Principal Theatre - Since its inauguration in 1798, this theatre has been subjected to numerous reformations. Its present interior is the work of Ricardo Magdalena (1896) who also designed the rear façade in an eclectic neo-classical style. The front of the building was remodelled by the brothers Borobio in ...

Fortea Tower - Built to a square plan, the lower part is of stone and the rest is of brich. It is the most important example in the city of mudejar civil architecture of the 15th Century. Acquired by the Town Council, it has been restored and is presently occupied by the Department responsible for the Areas of ...

Convention Centre - The Convention Centre on the former Expo Zaragoza 2008 site, by Nieto Sobejano has a wave-like roof with skylights to allow sunlight to enter illuminate foyers and common spaces. Likewise, the rooms receive natural light from outside by means of translucent façade walls, in alternating ...

La Zuda Tower - The seat of the Moslem governors, it was built on one of the turrets of the Roman wall. After the reconquest it became the residential palace of the kings of Aragon, from Alfonso I el Batallador (The Warrior) to Jaime I. Its present aspect dates and the characteristics of palatial architecture of ...

Aljaferia Castle - Muslim Spain makes its mark at the Aljafería, the country's finest Muslim-era edifice outside Andalucía. The Aljaferia was built as a pleasure palace for Zaragoza's Muslim rulers in the 11th century. From the 12th century Zaragoza's Christian rulers made alterations, and in the 1490s ...

Real Maestranza Palace - Headquarters of the Royal Armoured Calvary since 1912. It was commissioned by the jurist Miguel Donlope, and was not finished until the last quarter of the 16th century. Its façade presents features that would become commonly seen in these buildings, such as a semicircular arch, three ...

Tapestry Museum - Located in La Seo Cathedral, the museum is home to a major collection of tapestries belonging to the Cathedral Chapter, which experts consider to be the most important of its kind in the world. It comprises 63 Flemish tapestries and 6 pieces of heraldic embroidery. They are of very high quality, ...

Fantoba Pastry Shop, Zaragoza City - Pastelería Fantoba, is a family-run pastry shop founded in 1856 and located in Zaragoza's old quarter. Its ceiling is a work by the popular 19th Century architect Ricardo Magdalena. Fantoba has preserved the old fashioned quality of all its products.  Specialising in fine traditional ...