Aragon Guide

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 the Catholic Monarchs (Los Reyes Catolicos) tacked on their own palace. Later the Aljaferia served as headquarters of the Inquisition, hospital and barracks, when it was allowed to decay.

From the 1940s to 1990s restoration was carried out, and in 1987 Aragon's regional parliament, the Cortes de Aragon, was established here. The Muslim palace is the best-preserved palace complex from the epoch of the Taifa kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula. The quadrangular enclosure still retains part of its original adobe perimeter wall. It is reinforced with large semi-circular towers and a rectangular tower on the north side called the 'troubadour's tower' (Torre del Trovador), the lower part of which is the oldest part of the complex.

The Aljaferia Palace was built using traditional models in Islamic palatine architecture: a large open central courtyard leading to all of the living rooms with two pools on the north and south sides. Inside the main gate, cross the rather dull introductory courtyard into a second, the Patio de Santa Isabel, once the central courtyard of the Muslim palace. Here you are confronted to north and south by the exquisite interwoven arches typical of the opulence and geometric mastery of Muslim architecture.

The innermost hall at the northern end was the throne room, now with reproductions of its delicate plaster and alabaster wall carvings. Also opening off the northern porch is a small Mihrab designed as a private oratory for the king and his family. In contrast with its austere, fortress-like exterior, the palace interior presents great ornamental beauty and refinement that reflect two entirely different worlds: a defensive exterior with a refined and cultured interior where the sovereign and his court lived. It's a half-hour's walk walk through the riverside or a 10-minute ride on bus 32 or 36 from Plaza de España.

Christian Palace & Throne Room - Moving upstairs, you pass through rooms of the Palacio Mudéjar, added by Christian rulers in the 12th to 14th centuries, then to the Catholic Monarchs' palace, which, as though by way of riposte to the Muslim finery below, contains some exquisite Mudéjar coffered ceilings, especially ...

Mihrab - Also opening off the northern porch is a small, octagonal oratorio (prayer room), with a magnificent horseshoe-arched doorway leading into its mihrab (prayer niche indicating the direction of Mecca). The finely chiselled floral motifs, Arabic inscriptions from the Quran and pleasingly simple cupola ...

Patio de Santa Isabel - Inside the main gate, cross the rather dull introductory courtyard into a second, the Patio de Santa Isabel, once the central courtyard of the Muslim palace. Here you are confronted to north and south by the exquisite interwoven arches typical of the opulence and geometric mastery of Muslim ...

Torre del Trovador - The oldest construction of the Aljaferia is called Troubadour Tower. The tower received this name from Antonio Garcia Gutierrez’s 1836 romantic drama The Troubadour. The drama was converted into a libretto for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore in 1853. The tower is a defensive ...