Aragon Guide

Zaragoza possesses many architectural treasures, along with its museums and churches 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.

Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion, Zaragoza City - Inspired by the gladiolus flower, it was designed by prestigious architect by Zaha Hadid. Used as an entrance and the main pavilion for Expo Zaragoza 2008, it has remained in the city as an emblem of innovation and spectacular architecture. An enclosed interactive space spanning the River Ebro ...

Rivers Aquarium, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Basilica del Pilar, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Cartuja de Aula Dei, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 Gil Church, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 Carlos Borromeo, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

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 ...

Roman Public Baths Museum, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Patio de la Infanta, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Pablo Serrano Museum, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Plaza de los Sitios, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Imperial Channel of Aragon, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Caesar Augustus statue, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Stone Bridge, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Roman Walls, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 Retuerta, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

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

Former Capitania General, Zaragoza City - 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 City - 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), Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - 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 ...

Principal Theatre, Zaragoza City - 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, Zaragoza City - Built to a square plan, the lower part is of stone and the rest is of brick. 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 ...

La Zuda Tower, Zaragoza City - The seat of the Muslim 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 to Jaime. Its present aspect dates and the characteristics of palatial architecture of the period. It is used today as ...

Aljaferia Castle, Zaragoza City - 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 ...