Pyrenees Guide

The most important monument of the Moslem time is, undoubtedly, the palace of La Aljaferia, the headquarters of the Government of Aragon today. This palace was built in a period of urbanistic and cultural splendour of the city, at the same time as the prestige of philosophers and doctors, Arab and Jewish cartographers went beyond the borders of the whole Al Andalus.

The name of the best preserved enclosure of Arab palaces in the western world comes from its constructor, Abu Jafar, (al-Jafar, Aljferia) who governed the Zaragoza “taifa”.
The monument had a rectangular, almost square, ground plan, and it was strongly walled with 16 semicircular towers. For many years it remained hidden, disguised as a barraks.

Little by little, the overlying plaster has been stripped away to reveal what for many people is the most surprising monument in Zaragoza. On one side can be seen the remains of the Moslem palace. There is the Mirhab, which tried to imitate in plaster the glories of Cordoba. On the other side are the remains of the palace of the Catholic Kings. The coffered ceiling of the Throne Room is one of the most outstanding examples of the Aragonese Mudejar carpentery.