History of the Aljafería Palace in Zaragoza

THE ALJAFERIA PALACE

La Aljafería is a fortified palace built in Zaragoza in the second half of the 11th century on the initiative of Al-muqtadir as the residence of the Saudi kings of Saraqusta.

This recreational palace (then called "Qasr Al-surur" or palace of joy) reflects the splendor achieved by the Taifa kingdom in the period of its maximum political and cultural peak.

Its importance lies in the fact that it is the only preserved testimony of a large building of Hispanic Islamic architecture from the Taifa era. So a magnificent example of the caliphate of Cordoba, with its mosque of the 10th century, and another of the swan song of the Islamic culture in Al-Angelus of the 14th century, the Alhambra in Granada, is preserved

The Aljafería de Zaragoza of the eleventh century must be included in the triad of Spanish-Muslim architecture as a sample of the achievements of Taifa art, from the intermediate period of independent kingdoms prior to the arrival of the Almoravids. The Mudejar remains of the Palace of La Aljafería were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001 as part of the "Mudejar architecture of Aragon"

After the reconquest of Zaragoza in 1118 by Alfonso I, the fighter became the residence of the Christian kings of Aragon, with which the Aljafería became the main diffusing focus of the Aragonese Mudejar.

It was used as a royal residence by Pedro IV the ceremonious and then, on the main floor, the reform that turned these rooms into a palace of the Catholic kings in 1492 was carried out.

In 1593 he underwent another reform that would turn it into a military fortress, first according to Renaissance designs (which today can be seen in its surroundings, moat and gardens) and later as quartering of military regiments.

It underwent continuous reforms and great damages, especially with the Zaragoza sites of the war of independence until it was restored in the second half of the twentieth century and currently hosts the Cortes of Aragon

THE DEFENSIVE PHOSO

In its origin the construction was made outside the Roman wall, in the plain of the saría or place where the Muslims developed the military displays known as the Almozara. With the urban expansion through the years, the building has remained within the city. It has been possible to respect around it a small landscaped environment.

The palace is accessed by its eastern wing, through a door with a horseshoe arch that leads to the so-called courtyard of the church of San Martín, to rise there, on the right hand side, the church of San Martín, the work of Mudejar style, from the 14th century.

The church of San Martin, is a work of Mudejar style, from the fourteenth century

Highlights its entrance door to the church of San Martin and the entrance to the courtyard of Santa Isabel

From the church you can access the central part of the primitive period of the palace, a courtyard called Santa Isabel.

The patio of Santa Isabel, is rectangular, with porches on the shorter sides restored with copies of the original decoration, which is guarded in the national archaeological museum

The patio of Santa Isabel has a cistern on the south side

It is the open and landscaped space that unified the entire palace. To him the north and south porches poured, and the, rooms and dependencies located to the east and west of this central courtyard

Its name comes from the birth in the quarry of the Infanta Isabel de Aragón, who was in 1282 Queen of Portugal.

The original southern pool has been preserved, while that of the northern front, from the fourteenth century, has been covered with a wooden floor

South archery of the patio of Santa Isabel. The arcade that is contemplated facing the south portico is restored by emptying the original arches that are deposited in the national archaeological museum of Madrid and in the museum of Zaragoza. They represent the greatest audacity and distance for their innovation with respect to the caliphate models of the arches of the north side

THE TOWER OF THE TROVADOR

The oldest building in the quarry is the so-called "tower of the troubadour", which received this name from the romantic drama of Antonio García Gutiérrez, the troubadour, of 1836.

This drama was turned into a libretto for the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Il Trovatore, from 1853.

It is a defensive tower, with a quadrangular plan and five floors dating from the end of the ninth century, in the period governed by the first Tuyibí, Muhammad Alanqar, who was appointed by Muhammad i, an independent emir of Cordoba.

The tower maintains traces of the start of the thick walls of alabaster masonry in its lower part, and continued with other simple concrete formwork of plaster and lime, somewhat thinner when winning in height.

The exterior does not reflect the internal five-story division and appears as a huge solid prism barely broken by openings in embrasure.

The entrance to the interior was made through a small height door that could only be accessed by a portable ladder. Its initial function was, for all these indications, eminently military

The first floor retains the construction structure of the s. IX, which houses two ships and six sections separated by two cruciform pillars from which split horseshoe arches.

In spite of its simplicity, they make up a balanced room, which rhythms the ceiling in the manner of caliphous mosques and that could be used as bathrooms, due to the supplying well of the Troubadour Tower

Its function in the 9th and 10th centuries was that of a watchtower and defensive bastion.

It was surrounded by a moat. It was later integrated by the Banu Hud in the construction of the castle-palace of the Aljafería, becoming one of the towers of the defensive framework of the outer north canvas.

After the Christian conquest, it was still used as a tribute tower and in 1486 it became a prison of the Inquisition

Entrance to the dungeons of the Troubadour Tower

As a prison-tower it was also used in the 17th and 19th centuries, as evidenced by the numerous graffiti inscribed there by the inmates

Dome and horseshoe arches on the ground floor of the tower

Access to the palace of la aljafería and El northern portico

Rooms of the north portico ...

The construction of the palace was ordered by Abú Ya'far Ahmad Ibn Sulayman Al-muqtadir Billah, known for his honorary title of al-muqtadir, (the mighty), second monarch of the Banu Hud dynasty, as a symbol of power achieved by the taifa of Zaragoza in the second half of the 11th century.

The king himself called his palace "qasr al-surur" (palace of joy) and the throne room he presided at receptions and embassies, "maylis al-dahab" (golden hall) as witnessed in the following verses of the monarch himself:

“ Oh palace of joy! Oh golden hall! Thanks to you I reached the height of my desires. And even if I had nothing else in my kingdom, for me you are everything I could hope for "

Access to the Golden Room

Stays of the north front, with triple access to the golden room

Door arch of the eastern alcove of the Golden Room

The golden hall

The most important set of dependencies of the Hudí period palace is built in the northern testero, as it includes the throne room or golden hall and the small private mosque, located on the eastern side of the access portico that serves as a prelude to the oratory.

Inside it houses a mihrab in the southeast corner, whose niche, therefore, is oriented in the direction of Mecca, as it happens in all mosques except in Cordoba

The golden room had at its east and west ends two rooms that were private bedrooms possibly of royal use.

Today the bedroom of the western flank has been lost, which was used as a royal bedroom and the Aragonese kings were also used until the fourteenth century

Entrance to the mosque

At the eastern end of the entrance porch to the golden hall, there is a small private mosque or oratory for use by the monarch and his courtiers.

It is accessed through a cover that ends in a horseshoe arch inspired by the mosque of Cordoba

Inside the oratory there is a small square floor space but with chamfered corners, which makes it a false octagonal floor plan. In the southeast sector, oriented towards Mecca, is the mihrab niche.

Interior of the mosque

The mihrab of the mosque

Mosque ceiling

After the capture of Zaragoza by Alfonso I the fighter in 1118, the quarry was enabled as a palace of the kings of Aragon and as a Christian church, not being substantially modified until the fourteenth century with the performance of Peter IV the ceremonial.

This king extended the palatial dependencies in 1336 and ordered the construction of the church of San Martin in the entrance hall to the fortress. At this time the Aljafería was the starting point of the route that led to the seo, where the Aragonese monarchs were solemnly crowned and swore the privileges

Alfiz and enjuta Mudejars of the s. XIV Palace of Pedro IV. It is not an independent palace, but the extension of the Muslim palace that was still in use.

Pedro IV tried to provide more spacious rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms to the aljafería, since the taifal alcoves had remained small for the use of the ceremonial one.

These new rooms are grouped over the northern sector of the Andalusian palace, at different levels of height

This new Mudejar factory was extraordinarily respectful of the pre-existing construction, both in plan and elevation, comprising three large rectangular-plan rooms covered by extraordinary wooden beds or Mudejar wooden ceilings

Also from this era is the western archery of pointed arches in the courtyard of Santa Isabel

The palace of the Catholic kings

In the last years of the fifteenth century the Catholic kings ordered to build a palace for real use on the north wing of the Andalusian enclosure, configuring a second floor superimposed on that of the existing palace.

The building broke the upper parts of the taifal rooms, where the beams that would support the new palace were inserted.

The works are dated between 1488 and 1495 and in them Mudejar masters continued to participate, such as Faraig and Muhammad de Gali, who, as happened with Pedro IV (yucef and mohamat bellito) maintained the tradition of Mudejar alarifes in the Aljafería

The palace is accessed by climbing the noble staircase, a monumental construction composed of two broad sections with openwork of geometric plasterwork illuminated by small half-pointed windows of small decoration of leaves and stems of Gothic roots and Mudejar influences, finished in crochet over the key of the arches

Staircase of the palace of the Catholic kings, which highlight the coffered ceiling and the windows in semicircular arch with stained glass windows and ornamental details

Corridor of access to the noble rooms of the palace of the Catholic kings. On the right, front cover of the main entrance. The staircase gives access to a corridor on the first floor that communicates with the palatial dependencies themselves

Stresses the main entrance to the throne room in whose center is represented the shield of the monarchy of the Catholic kings, which include the blazon of the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily and Granada, supported by two lions

The throne room

More complex and difficult to describe is the magnificence and sumptuousness of the ceiling that covers the throne room.

Its dimensions are very considerable (20 meters long and 8 meters wide) and its coffered ceiling is supported by thick beams and sleepers that are decorated with lacerias that at the intersections form eight-pointed stars, while generating thirty large and deep square boxes

Ceiling of the throne room

The impressive throne room, of rectangular plan and considerable dimensions, in which the superb coffered ceiling of its gilt and polychrome wood roof stands out

In the frieze that surrounds the entire perimeter of the room, there is a legend of Gothic calligraphy that reads: Fernando, King of Spain, Sicily, Corsica and Balearic Islands, the best of princes, prudent, courageous, pious, constant, fair, happy and Isabel, queen, superior to every woman for her piety and greatness of spirit, distinguished victorious husbands with the help of Christ, after liberating Andalusia from the Moors, expelled the old and fierce enemy, ordered to build this work the year of the salvation of 1492

At the beginning of 1486 the zone of the patio of San Martin is destined to seat of the court of the Holy Office of the Inquisition and dependencies next to the patio are enabled to house the officers of this organism.

It is likely that this is the origin of the use as a prison of the Troubadour Tower.

The new function (which would last until the initial years of the 18th century) triggered an event that would culminate in a reform project undertaken under the mandate of Philip II, which would henceforth become a military base.

In 1591, in the events known as alterations of Zaragoza, the persecuted secretary of King Felipe II, Antonio Pérez accepted the privilege of demonstration contemplated by the jurisdiction of Aragon in order to elude the imperial troops

Antonio Pérez had jurisdiction over all the jurisdictions of the kingdoms, and, for that reason, he was held in dungeons of the inquisitorial headquarters of the Aljafería, which caused an uprising of the people before what they considered a violation of the foral law, and went to the assault of the Aljafería to rescue him.

After the forceful action of the royal army, the revolt was stifled, and Felipe II decided to consolidate the Aljafería as a fortified citadel under his authority in preventing similar revolts.

The Aljafería remained without substantial changes until 1705, in which due to the war of Spanish succession it was lodging of two companies of French troops that led to a re-growth of the parapets of the low wall of the moat made by the military engineer dezveheforz

But the decisive transformation as a quartering took place in 1772 at the initiative of Carlos III, in which all the facades were remodeled to the way in which the western one is currently presented, and which turned the interior spaces into dependencies for the soldiers and officers who were staying in the building.

Only the addition in 1862 of four neo-Gothic towers, of which the ones located in the northwestern and southwestern corner have arrived to our days.

From 1985, by Luis Franco Lahoz and, Mariano Pemán Gavín, who assumed the integration of the parliament of the Aragonese courts in its enclosure, the Aljafería was inaugurated as an artistic historical monument in its current splendor in 1998 by Prince Felipe de Borbón .