25 Best Zaragoza Attractions

Zaragoza is the cen­ter of the province of the same name in north­east­ern Spain. This is an ancient beau­ti­ful city, where there are many beau­ti­ful palaces and even more cathe­drals.

Who and why goes to Zaragoza

Zaragoza, found­ed dur­ing the Roman Empire, was con­quered by the Arabs in the 8th cen­tu­ry and turned it into an out­post of the strug­gle against the Chris­t­ian king­doms. It remained under the con­trol of the Mus­lims for a long time and passed to the Aragonese state only in 1118. After the uni­fi­ca­tion of Spain in the 15th cen­tu­ry, the city became part of a large coun­try and received a new impe­tus for devel­op­ment.

The tur­bu­lent past of Zaragoza is reflect­ed in his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al mon­u­ments. Tourists like char­ac­ter­is­tic Span­ish streets, wide squares, Moor­ish palaces and Goth­ic tem­ples. Antique walls, the ancient Roman the­ater, and the pic­turesque embank­ment are pop­u­lar.

Zaragoza is famous for its bright Chris­t­ian hol­i­days:

• Holy Week is cel­e­brat­ed with spe­cial splen­dor. All sev­en days pre­ced­ing East­er, Chris­t­ian pro­ces­sions are held in the city to the beat of cym­bals and drums.
• No less pop­u­lar is the feast of St. George (great mar­tyr, patron of Aragon). The day ded­i­cat­ed to him is an offi­cial hol­i­day in Zaragoza. It is accom­pa­nied by a parade and fes­tiv­i­ties.
• In Octo­ber, the fes­ti­val in hon­or of the Vir­gin Pilar starts. For a week, the city turns into a cen­ter of reli­gious events and enter­tain­ment. As part of the hol­i­day, there is a solemn pro­ces­sion to the stat­ue of the Vir­gin, a cav­al­cade led by the Nation­al Guard, and a dance com­pe­ti­tion.

The parks and squares of Zaragoza save you from the heat of the day and allow you to have an inter­est­ing time. Foun­tains, bench­es, play­grounds with carousels, cozy cafes are installed among the trees. For ath­letes there are tread­mills and exer­cise equip­ment.

The rich his­tor­i­cal her­itage of the city is stored in muse­ums. The col­lec­tions include ethno­graph­ic, archae­o­log­i­cal arti­facts, medieval works of art, jew­el­ry and weapons.

Con­nois­seurs of out­door activ­i­ties pre­fer to com­bine sight­see­ing with hik­ing in the sur­round­ings, boat­ing on the Ebro Riv­er, sport fish­ing or raft­ing.

Historical landmarks

Pilar Square

The main square of Zaragoza, found­ed in the 16th cen­tu­ry, is now used for offi­cial events and city hol­i­days. The square area is sur­round­ed by Renais­sance build­ings, Goth­ic cathe­drals, and church­es.

In the mid­dle is a mon­u­ment to Goya. The fig­ure of the artist is locat­ed on a stepped pedestal. The mas­ter holds a brush in his hand and looks thought­ful­ly into the dis­tance. On the west side of Pilar Square is a large foun­tain depict­ing a map of Latin Amer­i­ca.

Roman walls

The walls built under the Roman emper­ors once com­plete­ly sur­round­ed the city and reli­ably pro­tect­ed it from ene­mies. Now only a few frag­ments remain of them. One of them ris­es along the Aveni­da de Cesar Augus­to — not only walls have been pre­served there, but also the remains of defen­sive tow­ers made of rough­ly hewn stone boul­ders. The max­i­mum height of the plot is 10 meters, the width is 7 meters.

A stone bridge

The arched bridge across the Ebro Riv­er was built in the first half of the 15th cen­tu­ry. The stone struc­ture has been rebuilt sev­er­al times and is now in excel­lent con­di­tion. At each end of the bridge there are pil­lars with sculp­tures of proud lions. In the evenings, bright lights are turned on. The bridge has been redes­ig­nat­ed for pedes­tri­an walks — it offers a gor­geous view of the riv­er, the embank­ment and the his­tor­i­cal dis­tricts of the city.

Plaza of Spain

The square in the his­toric cen­ter of Zaragoza is of great archi­tec­tur­al and cul­tur­al impor­tance. It is sur­round­ed by finan­cial and gov­ern­ment insti­tu­tions: for exam­ple, the Palace of the Gov­er­norate Cathe­dral and the Bank of Spain.

The pearl of the square is a mon­u­ment to the Mar­tyrs, made of stone and bronze, designed by Ricar­do Mag­dale­na. The mon­u­ment is a crenel­lat­ed tow­er, on top of which stands a winged angel with a cross hold­ing a falling Aragonese. At the foot is a female fig­ure, per­son­i­fy­ing Zaragoza. In her hands is the crown of Vic­to­ry and a parch­ment with a seal.

El Tubo

From the Plaza de España, a net­work of nar­row ancient streets paved with paving stones departs. The pop­u­lar tourist area is famous for its elite clubs, fash­ion stores, and antique shops. The cen­tral attrac­tions of El Tubo are the old French restau­rant “Lac House” and the leg­endary cafe “La Pla­ta”, where in the evenings they dance can­can and show shows for adults.

Architecture

Aljaferia

The Moor­ish palace of the 8th cen­tu­ry is a bright rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Mudé­jar archi­tec­tur­al style. It was intend­ed for the Banu Hud ruler and has been well pre­served to this day. This is a majes­tic fortress with sev­er­al tow­ers, sur­round­ed by thick walls. A gar­den is laid out in the court­yard, there are open­work gaze­bos and lanterns.

Dur­ing the reign of Aragon, Aljafe­ria was the res­i­dence of the Chris­t­ian kings, today it hous­es the par­lia­ment of the region. Some rooms are avail­able for tourists. The tour shows the Throne Room, the main cham­bers with the coats of arms of Castile and Aragon, as well as the Trou­ba­dour tow­er.

town hall

The two-storey town hall of Zaragoza, erect­ed in 1941 in the style of the Aragonese Renais­sance, dom­i­nates Pilar Square. The large rec­tan­gu­lar build­ing is dec­o­rat­ed with arched spans and orig­i­nal stuc­co. The cen­tral entrance is dec­o­rat­ed with stone stat­ues. Trees have been plant­ed near­by and bench­es have been installed. Excur­sions inside are not pro­vid­ed.

Fish market

The 16th-cen­tu­ry man­sion on Pilar Square has a rec­tan­gu­lar shape and three facades. The out­er walls are dec­o­rat­ed with a gallery of dou­ble arch­es, open­work win­dows and cor­re­spond to the tra­di­tion­al Renais­sance style. The inte­ri­or dec­o­ra­tion is dis­tin­guished by goth­ic notes.

The vaults are dec­o­rat­ed with sculp­tur­al reliefs, carved orna­ments, and stuc­co. The build­ing, intend­ed for com­mer­cial pur­pos­es, has long been the main mar­ket of Zaragoza. Today, there is an exhi­bi­tion hall of the city coun­cil.

Palace of Congresses Zaragoza

The Con­gress Palace, Eduar­do Ibar­ra Street, is a spa­cious house built in 1994. It includes a con­cert hall as well as audi­to­ri­ums for meet­ings and offi­cial events. The com­plex is famous for its exquis­ite inte­ri­or and excel­lent acoustics. The main hall is equipped with video sur­veil­lance, simul­ta­ne­ous trans­la­tion sys­tem, LCD pro­jec­tion screens. On the stage of the palace, the cham­ber orches­tra and the choir of the music school reg­u­lar­ly give con­certs.

temples

Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar

Pilar Square adorns the largest Catholic church in Zaragoza, built in hon­or of the appear­ance of the Vir­gin, which hap­pened 1000 years ago. The sanc­tu­ary has four bell tow­ers with point­ed spiers. One of them has an obser­va­tion deck. The cen­tral build­ing is crowned with a mas­sive dome with a cross.

Medieval church relics are pre­served inside the tem­ple. The main shrine is a jasper col­umn depict­ing the Moth­er of God and baby Jesus. The Pilar Muse­um is locat­ed in the Basil­i­ca. It exhibits draw­ings by Goya, church uten­sils and jew­el­ry.

Cathedral of the Epiphany of the Savior

The Roman Catholic Cathe­dral of the Epiphany of the Sav­ior — La Seo — the old­est in Zaragoza. It was found­ed in 1140 on the ruins of the ancient forum. The build­ing was rebuilt more than once and acquired fea­tures char­ac­ter­is­tic of the Goth­ic, Baroque, Renais­sance, and Mudé­jar styles.

Inside there is an alabaster altar 16 meters high and 10 meters wide, as well as a choir with 117 stone seats. The sac­risty is dec­o­rat­ed with paint­ings by Aragonese artists of the 17th cen­tu­ry. In total, there are 28 chapels in the tem­ple, each of which stands out for its rich dec­o­ra­tion.

Church of Santa Engracia

The basil­i­ca was built on the site of the mur­der of Saint Engra­cia and her com­pan­ions, which hap­pened in 303. At first, a small tomb remind­ed of the tragedy. Lat­er, an abbey appeared, which has sur­vived to this day. The monastery church suf­fered exten­sive dam­age dur­ing the Span­ish War of Inde­pen­dence and took years to restore.

Now the tem­ple has been restored and attracts tourists with col­or­ful fres­coes, stone stat­ues of saints, and beau­ti­ful wall paint­ings. The crypt con­tains ear­ly Chris­t­ian sar­copha­gi from the 4th cen­tu­ry.

Church of St. Magdalena

The tem­ple of the XIV cen­tu­ry is the stan­dard of the tra­di­tion­al Mudé­jar style. The build­ing has the shape of a Latin cross with a nave with trans­verse vaults and a polyg­o­nal apse. Side chapels rise between the inner sup­ports. The square high bell tow­er is dec­o­rat­ed with orig­i­nal orna­ments, crenel­lat­ed roof, oval arch­es and cross­es.

In the inte­ri­or, the altar by Jose Ramirez de Arel­lano, paint­ings, as well as a gild­ed stat­ue sym­bol­iz­ing the Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion, have been pre­served.

San Gil Abad

The Romanesque ear­ly Chris­t­ian church was destroyed under Mus­lim rule. A new Mudé­jar sanc­tu­ary was erect­ed in the 14th cen­tu­ry. Its main dec­o­ra­tion is a square polyg­o­nal tow­er dec­o­rat­ed with ori­en­tal orna­ments, round arch­es and win­dows. Today it is the city’s parish church, which pre­serves fres­coes and paint­ings by the Span­ish artist Ramon Baye.

Museums

Pablo Gargallo Museum

In Piaz­za San Felipe stands the two-storey Aragonese palace of the Counts of Argillo, declared a nation­al mon­u­ment in 1943. It hous­es the muse­um of the Span­ish sculp­tor Pablo Gar­gal­lo. The gallery of the palace con­tains 177 works of the mas­ter: mar­ble stat­ues, engrav­ings, pen­cil draw­ings, paint­ings. In the court­yard are two eques­tri­an sculp­tures, also cre­at­ed by Pablo Gar­gal­lo in 1929 for the Olympic Sta­di­um in Barcelona.

Museum of Zaragoza

The largest his­tor­i­cal muse­um in Spain is divid­ed into three sec­tions:

• The archae­o­log­i­cal depart­ment presents exhibits found dur­ing exca­va­tions: weapons, jew­el­ry, frag­ments of ancient build­ings, reli­gious objects.
• The art sec­tion con­tains paint­ings by Span­ish Renais­sance artists, Mus­lim paint­ings, and stat­ues of Roman gods.
• The ceram­ics room shows how pot­tery devel­oped in Aragon from the Stone Age to the present day.

The muse­um also has a restora­tion depart­ment and a library.

Tapestry Museum

The La Seo Cathe­dral has a tapes­try muse­um for many years. The col­lec­tion includes prod­ucts woven 200–300 years ago in famous work­shops in Brus­sels, Tour­nai, Arras. Three exhi­bi­tion halls con­tain fab­rics illus­trat­ing bib­li­cal events, the his­to­ry of Ancient Rome, and pop­u­lar myths. Sep­a­rate­ly sort­ed heraldic tapes­tries, sacred orna­ments, jew­el­ry, paint­ings.

José Camón Aznar Museum

The Fine Arts Muse­um at Los Par­do Palace opened in 1979. The three-sto­ry man­sion hous­es thou­sands of works of art. The basis of the expo­si­tion is the col­lec­tion of José Camón Aznar, which includes works by artists of the 16th-20th cen­turies.

An exten­sive sec­tion is devot­ed to the work of Fran­cis­co Goya. Among its exhibits: “Self-por­trait”, “Maria Luisa de Par­ma”, “Aesop and Menip”, “The dream of the mind pro­duces mon­sters.”

Roman theater

The Roman the­ater in Zaragoza was built dur­ing the reign of Emper­or Tiberius. The build­ing had a clas­si­cal form, was lined with mar­ble and accom­mo­dat­ed 6,000 peo­ple. Over time, the the­ater col­lapsed and dis­ap­peared from the face of the city. Its ruins, dis­cov­ered in 1970, are still being stud­ied by sci­en­tists.

Unique finds are exhib­it­ed in the Muse­um of the Roman The­ater. On the tour you can see mar­ble stat­ues, frag­ments of columns, the­atri­cal masks, ancient musi­cal instru­ments. A sep­a­rate exhi­bi­tion tells about the con­struc­tion of the the­ater and its sig­nif­i­cance for ancient Zaragoza.

Firemen’s Museum

At the ini­tia­tive of the fire depart­ment in Zaragoza, a muse­um has been opened that will be of inter­est to the whole fam­i­ly. In an acces­si­ble form, he talks about the work of fire­fight­ers and how to pre­vent fires in the house. The per­ma­nent exhi­bi­tion presents fire engines, extin­guish­ing agents, and res­cuers’ cloth­ing.

A place of hon­or is occu­pied by a col­lec­tion of plates that are mount­ed on the facades of hous­es that are insured against fire. Tourists can study 90 plates of for­eign and Span­ish insur­ance com­pa­nies.

Nature and entertainment

Grande Park

A huge park in the cen­ter of Zaragoza is dec­o­rat­ed with foun­tains, mar­ble sculp­tures and fig­ured bench­es. Walk­ing paths, jog­ging paths, and pic­nic areas are equipped under the trees. There is a Botan­i­cal Gar­den in the park, which intro­duces conif­er­ous, decid­u­ous trees, shrubs, flow­ers, med­i­c­i­nal herbs, and spices. On the ter­ri­to­ry there is a cafe, a play­ground with carousels. At the entrance there is a pond with a clep­sy­dra — a water clock.

Embankment of the river Ebro

The city is crossed by a small beau­ti­ful riv­er. The cen­tral prom­e­nade is easy to find near the Basil­i­ca of Our Lady of Pilar. The pic­turesque coast paved with stone slabs is a suit­able place for roman­tic and fam­i­ly walks. Trees have been plant­ed along the road, bench­es and fruit stalls have been installed, and cafes are open. Peo­ple come here to admire the view of the riv­er, take pic­tures, go rollerblad­ing.

Aquarium

The largest Euro­pean riv­er aquar­i­um is locat­ed in a mod­ern spa­cious build­ing. It presents the fau­na of the Nile, Ama­zon, Ebro, Mekong, Mur­ray-Dar­ling. Adults and chil­dren can see pira­nhas, giant perch­es, gup­pies, ara­vans, flat­head cat­fish. Croc­o­diles, snakes, guinea pigs, marsh beavers live in a spe­cial zone. Tourists are offered to lis­ten to an inter­est­ing lec­ture, attend fish feed­ing and attend edu­ca­tion­al work­shops.

Somos el Parque de Atracciones

An amuse­ment park opened in Zaragoza in 1974. There are 40 attrac­tions among the trees. Fer­ris wheel, Ver­ti­cal Twister, Pacif­ic Ocean Express, Chains, Ram­ses, Rev­o­lu­tion are very pop­u­lar. For the lit­tle ones there are tram­po­lines, sand­box­es, a tra­di­tion­al carousel in the form of ani­mals. Vis­i­tors to the park ride boats on the local pond, enter the Cave of Hor­rors, the Room of Mir­rors, and the Mag­net­ic House.

Pignatelli Park

A small but cozy park, stretch­ing along Paseo de Cuel­lar, is designed for leisure­ly walks in the shade of trees. Wide alleys are lined with square stone slabs.

In the cen­ter is a small square with a mon­u­ment to Ramon Pig­natel­li, a Span­ish politi­cian who took an active part in cre­at­ing the project of the Impe­r­i­al Canal of Aragon. In addi­tion, the park con­tains a stone bust of José Maria Fer­rera and a wall paint­ed by city artists.