The oldest building in the Aljafería is the so-called "Tower of the Troubadour", which received this name from the romantic drama by Antonio García Gutiérrez, El trovatore, from 1836. This drama was converted into a libretto for Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore, from 1853.

The tower has its main access through a small courtyard closed on the east side of the so-called "marble room", the north of the mosque and annexed buildings, of which some Renaissance elements stand out, such as an opening; or gothic. This complex has been standardized through the arrangement of galleries of semicircular Aragonese arches, superimposed, and the adjacent part of the church of San Martín. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

It is a defensive tower, with a quadrangular plan and five floors, dating from the end of the century (according to Bernabé Cabañero Subiza, from the second half of the century),[4]​ in the period ruled by the first Tuyibí, Muhammad Alanqar, who was appointed by Muhammad I, independent emir of Córdoba. The tower maintains vestiges of the start of the thick walls of alabaster ashlar masonry in its lower part, measuring these 234567865432342457437856m wide, and continued with others of simple gypsum and lime concrete formwork, somewhat thinner as they gained in height, decreasing their thickness to 1.10m.

The tower was rebuilt after a fire burned it in 1039, the year in which the Beni Hud of Lérida took the city of Zaragoza, establishing the capital of their kingdom there. It is known, thanks to this and the documents that confirm the existence of a moat around the tower, that it was a free-standing rectangular construction; and that it will be based on the ordinance of Almoctadir, that the “house of rejoicing” will be built around it. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The original access to the tower was at a door located high up, due to the function of the building, accessing it through a ladder. It is a door located under a horseshoe arch with a split lintel, of Córdoban descent. From this a corridor of alabaster ashlars began, with access to the stairs of the tower on the right, while at the back of this there was access to another room. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The exterior does not reflect the internal division into five floors and appears as an enormous solid prism barely broken by loophole openings. Entry inside was through a small high door that could only be accessed using a portable ladder. Its initial function was, from all these indications, eminently military.

The first floor preserves the construction structure of the 19th century, which houses two naves and six sections separated by two cruciform pillars from which lowered horseshoe arches start. Its walls are made of masonry on the inside and ashlars on the outside. To the left of the access door, there is a hallway that leads to a well, five meters in diameter, equipped with a circular staircase that allows access to the bottom of it (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

In general and despite their simplicity, they make up a balanced room, which rhythms the ceiling in the style of the caliphal mosques and which could have been used as bathrooms.

The second floor, which is accessed through a staircase on which the marks of the fire of 1039 can be seen, is inserted in the wall and covered by barrel vaults (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council), repeats the same spatial scheme of the previous one, and remains of a Muslim factory of the century are observed in the brick canvases, which indicates that the second floor was possibly rebuilt at the same time as the palace in the time of Al-Muqtádir. Built of brick, except for a small area made of stone, for plastering; Its lowered arches stand out (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

On the third floor, whose structure would also date from the 19th century, with horseshoe arches, Mudejar geometric motifs appear painted on the ceiling where the names of Aeneas, Amor and Venus can be read, possibly dating from the 19th century. This floor is the most eclectic of all, since you can see elements of three different styles. The floor plan is organized around a central room, on whose sides there are, in addition to the access staircase, a series of rooms. The architectural elements that can be seen here, in chronological order, are horseshoe arches, semicircular arches and pointed arches; Furthermore, with the help of some interventions, a series of inscriptions have been preserved on some of the arches where you can read “The Empire is Allah's”. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

Something similar occurs with the appearance of the last two floors, of Mudejar construction, and whose construction would be due to the construction of the annexed Pedro IV palace, which is connected to the troubadour tower thanks to a corridor, and would thus be configured as a keep. The arches of these floors already reflect their Christian structure, as they are slightly pointed arches, and they support roofs that are not vaulted, but rather flat wooden structures.

Its function over the 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 Aljafería castle-palace, becoming one of the towers of the defensive framework of the outer northern canvas. After the Christian conquest in 1118, it continued to be used as a keep and in 1486 it became a dungeon for the Inquisition. It was also used as a prison tower in the centuries and , as demonstrated by the numerous graffiti inscribed there by prisoners.

Contenido

La construcción del palacio —en su mayor parte realizada entre 1065 y 1081—[5]​ fue ordenada por Abú Ya'far Ahmad ibn Sulaymán al-Muqtadir Billah, conocido por su título honorífico de Al-Muqtadir ('el Poderoso'), segundo monarca de la dinastía de los Banu Hud, como símbolo del poder alcanzado por la Taifa de Zaragoza en la segunda mitad del siglo . El rey en persona llamó a su palacio Qasr al-Surur ('Palacio de la Alegría') y a la sala del trono que él presidía en recepciones y embajadas, Maŷlis al-Dahab ('Salón Dorado') como se atestigua en los siguientes versos del propio monarca:.

El nombre de Aljafería se documenta por primera vez en un texto de Al-Yazzar as-Saraqusti (activo entre 1085 y 1100) —que transmite además el nombre del arquitecto del palacio taifal, el eslavo Al-Halifa Zuhayr—[5]​ y otro de Ibn Idari de 1109, como derivación del prenombre de Al-Muqtadir, Abu Ya'far, y de «Ya'far», «Al-Yafariyya», que evolucionó a «Aliafaria» y de ahí a «Aljafería».

Al tratarse de un edificio de gran eclecticismo, ha sido necesario por parte de los historiadores, recurrir a documentación que en su gran parte ha sido poco explícita, pero que ha podido arrojar un poco más de certeza sobre algunos matices. Cierto es que la investigación planimétrica no ha podido extenderse más allá de 1593, primer año del que se conservan planos de gran fiabilidad. Lo que sí se sabe es que el Palacio Taifal perdió estima tras la toma cristiana, siendo destacadas por estos nuevos gobernantes, la Sala de los Mármoles y el Salón Dorado (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

La disposición general del conjunto del palacio adopta el arquetipo de los castillos omeyas del desierto de Siria y Jordania de la primera mitad del siglo , (como el de Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi,[6]​ Qusair Mushatta, Jirbat al-Mafyar y, ya de la primera etapa abbasí, el palacio de Ujaidir) que eran de planta cuadrada y torreones ultrasemicirculares en los paños, con un espacio central tripartito, que deja tres espacios rectangulares de los que el central aloja un patio con albercas y, en los extremos septentrional y meridional del mismo, los salones palaciegos y las dependencias de la vida cotidiana.

En la Aljafería se rinde homenaje a este modelo de castillo-palacio, cuya zona noble está situada en el segmento central de su planta cuadrada, si bien el alineamiento de los lados de esa planta es irregular. Es el rectángulo central el que acoge las dependencias palaciegas, organizado en torno a un patio con aljibes frente a los pórticos norte y sur al que vierten las estancias y salones reales.

En los extremos norte y sur se sitúan los pórticos y dependencias de habitación, y en el caso de la Aljafería, el más importante de estos sectores es el norte, que en origen estaba dotado de una segunda planta y poseía mayor profundidad, además de ser antecedido por un testero de columnas abierto y profusamente decorado, que se extendía en dos brazos mediante dos pabellones a sus flancos y que servía de pórtico teatral al salón del trono (el salón dorado de los versos de Al-Muqtadir) situado al fondo. Se producía con ello un juego de alturas y de diversos volúmenes cúbicos que comenzaban por los corredores perpendiculares de los extremos, se resaltaba con la presencia de la altura de la segunda planta y finalizaba con la torre del trovador que ofrecía su volumen al fondo a la mirada de un espectador situado en el patio. Todo ello, reflejado además en el aljibe, realzaba la zona regia, lo que se corrobora por la presencia en el extremo oriental del testero norte de una pequeña mezquita privada con mihrab.

En el centro del muro norte del interior del Salón Dorado había un arco ciego —donde se situaba el rey— en cuya rosca se disponía una trama geométrica muy tradicional imitando la celosía de la fachada del mihrab de la Mezquita de Córdoba, edificio al que se buscaba emular. De este modo, desde el patio, aparecía semioculto por las tramas de columnas tanto de la arquería de acceso al Salón Dorado, como de las del pórtico inmediato, que daban un aspecto de celosía, una ilusión de profundidad, que admiraba al visitante y prestaba esplendor a la figura del monarca.

Para recordar el aspecto del palacio a fines del siglo hay que imaginarse que todos los relieves vegetales, geométricos y epigráficos estaban policromados en tonos en los que predominaba el rojo y el azul para los fondos y el dorado para los relieves, que, junto con los zócalos en alabastro con decoración epigráfica y las solerías de mármol blanco, daba al conjunto un aspecto de gran magnificencia.

Los diversos avatares sufridos por la Aljafería, han hecho desaparecer de esta disposición del siglo gran parte de los estucos que componían la decoración y, con la construcción del palacio de los Reyes Católicos en 1492, toda la segunda planta, que rompió los remates de los arcos taifales. En la restauración actual, se observan en color más oscuro los atauriques originales y en acabados blancos y lisos la reconstrucción de enlucido de la decoración los arcos, cuya estructura, eso sí, permanece indemne.

La decoración de las paredes del Salón Dorado ha desaparecido en su mayor parte, aunque se conservan restos de su ornato en el Museo de Zaragoza y en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid. Francisco Íñiguez inició su restauración, reponiendo las decoraciones que existían en sus lugares de origen y extrayendo vaciados completos de las arquerías del pórtico sur.

Estas fueron las funciones y aspecto del palacio hudí del siglo . A continuación se detallan las partes más importantes del edificio tal y como se encuentran en la actualidad.

North side rooms

The most important set of rooms of the Hudi period palace is built on the northern wall, as it includes the Throne Room or Golden Room and the small private mosque, located on the eastern side of the access porch that serves as an anteroom to the oratory "Oratory (religion)"). Inside it houses a mihrab in the southeast corner, whose niche, therefore, is oriented in the direction of Mecca, as is the case in all the mosques except that of Córdoba.

The floors of the royal rooms were made of marble and an alabaster plinth ran along them. The capitals were made of alabaster, except for some reused marble from the Caliphal period. These rooms were surrounded by a band of epigraphic decoration with Kufic characters that reproduced Koranic suras that alluded to the symbolic meaning of the ornamentation. The surahs that correspond to these inscriptions have been deduced from the surviving fragments.

In two of these calligraphic reliefs the name of Al-Muqtadir can be found, which is why the construction of the palace has been dated, at least in the first phase, between 1065 and 1080. One of them literally says "This [the Aljafería] was ordered to be built by Áhmed al-Muqtadir Billáh."

The Golden Hall had at its east and west ends two rooms that were private bedrooms possibly for royal use. Today the bedroom on the western flank has been lost, which was used as a royal bedroom and was also used by the Aragonese kings until the 19th century.

Most of the atauriques plasterwork, which covered the walls of these rooms with decorative panels carved in plaster, as well as an alabaster plinth two and a half meters high and the white marble floors of the original palace, have been lost. The remains that have been preserved, both in museums and the few found in this royal hall, however, allow us to reconstruct the appearance of this polychrome decoration, which, in its day, must have been splendid.

The ceilings, wooden ceiling tiles, reproduced the firmament, and the entire room was an image of the cosmos, filled with symbols of the power that the monarch of Zaragoza exercised over the celestial universe, who thus appeared as the heir of the caliphs.

Access to the Golden Hall is through a canvas with three openings. A very large central one, made up of five double marble columns with very stylized Islamic alabaster capitals that support four intersecting mixtilinear arches, between which, in height, other simpler horseshoe arches are located.

Towards the south, there is another outbuilding of similar size that opens onto the patio through a porch with large multi-lobed arches. Once again there is a tripartite space, and its east and west ends extend perpendicularly with two side galleries that are accessed through wide multi-lobed arches and which end at the end of their arms in two pointed arches, also multi-lobed, whose alfiz is decorated by complex lacework and reliefs of atauriques.

The Patio of Santa Isabel

This is the open and landscaped space that unified the entire Taifal palace. The north and south porticos flowed into it, and probably, rooms and outbuildings located to the east and west of this central patio.

Its name comes from the birth in the Aljafería of the Infanta Isabel of Aragón "Isabel of Aragón (queen of Portugal)"), who was queen of Portugal in 1282. The original pool on the south has been preserved, while the one on the northern front, from the 19th century, has been covered with a wooden floor. The restoration attempted to give the patio its original splendor, and to achieve this, a floor of marble slabs was installed in the corridors that surround the orange and flower garden.

The original measurements of the patio are estimated to have been around 24 meters wide by 39 meters long, omitting the porticos on the shorter sides. On the longer sides where today galleries have been arranged that open to the patio through semicircular arches, originally there were no porticos or any element that opened to the patio, so the access area to it was located on the short sides. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The arcade that can be seen looking towards the south portico is restored by emptying the original arches that are deposited in the National Archaeological Museum "Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Spain)") in Madrid and in the Museum of Zaragoza, which due to their poor state of conservation, it is believed that they cannot be returned to their place of origin (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council). They represent the greatest daring and distance due to their innovation with respect to the caliphal models of the arches on the north side.

According to Christian Ewert, who has studied the arches of the Aljafería for fifteen years, the more related the ornamentation of the arches is to noble areas (Golden Hall and Mosque), the more respect they have for the Córdoban tradition from which they are based.

South side rooms

Completing the tour of the 19th century palace, we reach the south portico, which consists of an archway on its southern flank that gives access to a portico with two side rooms.

This portico was the anteroom of a large south hall that would have the same tripartite layout as that existing on the north side, and of which only the access archway of mixtilinear arches with geometric decoration remains. Perhaps in this southern sector the greatest daring in terms of arches occurs, through the interweaving of lobed, mixtilinear forms, and the inclusion of small reliefs of shafts and capitals with an exclusively ornamental function.

The complexity of the lacework, atauriques and carvings leads to a baroque aesthetic, which constitutes a prelude to the filigree of the art of the Alhambra and which is one of the most beautiful of all Andalusian art.

Tras la toma de Zaragoza por Alfonso I el Batallador en 1118, la Aljafería fue habilitada como palacio de los reyes de Aragón y como iglesia, no siendo modificado sustancialmente hasta el siglo con la actuación de Pedro IV el Ceremonioso (1336 – 1387).

Este rey amplió las dependencias palaciegas en 1336 y mandó construir la iglesia de San Martín en el patio de ingreso al alcázar. En esta época está documentado el uso de la Aljafería como lugar de partida del recorrido que llevaba a la Seo, donde los monarcas aragoneses eran solemnemente coronados y juraban los fueros.

Pedro IV acomete un verdadero plan de reconstrucción que afecta al edificio en su totalidad sin olvidar ninguno de los aspectos civiles, religiosos y militares del palacio. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. El Palacio de los Reyes de Aragón. Inst. de Estudios Islámicos. p. 22).

Con la entronización de Pedro IV se inicia uno de los más brillantes períodos para la historia y la arquitectura del palacio. Efectivamente, es este rey quien convierte a la Aljafería en un símbolo de la monarquía aristocrática por él instaurada, produciéndose la primera transformación de importancia desde que deja de pertenecer a los árabes. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. El Palacio de los Reyes de Aragón. Inst. de Estudios Islámicos. p. 22-23).

Los primeros frutos de su obra se recogen en 1339 con lo que debe entenderse como la reconstrucción de la capilla de San Martín, para la que encarga dos retablos al pintor barcelonés Ferrer Bassa. También ordena al merino Palacín que haga representar el emblema heráldico de su primera esposa, la reina María de Navarra, en el crucero de la nueva capilla real, de manera que figurase junto al escudo del monarca. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010).

St. Martin's Church

The church of San Martín takes advantage of the walls of the northwest corner of the wall, to the point that one of its towers was used as a sacristy and gave its name to the patio that gives access to the Taifal enclosure.

From the patio of San Martín you go to the patio of the Troubadour and, from this to the patio of Santa Isabel. It summarizes the history of the Aljafería palace, from the Arab constructions of the century to the current barracks works, passing through the Christian, Gothic and Mudejar alterations and the majestic work of the Catholic Monarchs. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The factory, in the Gothic-Mudejar style, consists of two naves with three sections each, originally facing east and supported by two pillars with semi-columns attached to the middle of the pillar faces, whose section is remembered in the quadrilobes that house the coat of arms of the King of Aragon in the albanegas of the doorway, which dates back to the first decade of the century and which we will stop at later.

The vaults of these naves, with simple ribbing, are housed on pointed arches and perpiaños, while the diagonals are semicircular. At the corners of the vaults there are rosettes with the coats of arms of the Aragonese monarchy. Of its decoration, only fragments of the pictorial covering and some mixtilinear grated arches directly inspired by the Muslim palace remain.

The previously mentioned Mudejar brick doorway stands out on the outside, built in the time of Martin I the Human and open in the last section of the south nave.

The entrance is a later Gothic-Mudejar door. This façade is articulated by a very low carpanel arch, sheltered by another pointed arch of larger dimensions. Framing both, a double alfiz decorated with studded motifs forming rhombus panels.

In the albanegas there are two quadrilobed medallions that house shields with the image of the insignia of the King of Aragon. In the resulting tympanum between the arches there is a band of intersecting mixtilinear blind arches, which again refer to the series of the Hudi palace. This strip is interrupted by a box that houses a recently incorporated relief.

The church was remodeled in the 19th century, adding a nave and therefore covering the Mudejar façade described above. The pillars and walls were renovated and plastered in the neoclassical style. The entire reform was eliminated during the restorations by Francisco Íñiguez, although from the existing photographic documentation, it is known that there was a slender tower that now appears with a crenellated finish, inspired by the appearance of the Mudejar church, and in the century it culminated with a curious bulbous spire. The neoclassical tower was demolished, which rode on top of another Arab one with small horseshoe arches, which protruded a little from the walls, crenellated, which had been solidified to support the load and which is being emptied to make it accessible by an internal staircase. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 26).

The Mudejar palace

The Gothic palace was born as a result of the modifications that the Christian kings ordered in the Arab monument, although it had been built approximately three quarters of a century ago, but the Arab halls continued to be used and provoked the admiration of the Aragonese kings. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

It is not an independent palace, but rather an extension of the Muslim palace that was still in use. Pedro IV tried to provide larger rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms to the Aljafería, since the taifal bedrooms had become too small for the use of the Ceremonious.

These new rooms are grouped on the northern sector of the Andalusian palace, at different height levels. This new Mudejar factory was extraordinarily respectful of the pre-existing construction, both in plan and elevation, and was made up of three large rectangular rooms covered by extraordinary aljarfes or Mudejar wooden ceilings.

In the year 1348, the Black Death devastated the city, so the courts moved to Teruel. Although the king does not forget his palace and grants power to obtain the necessary resources for the works of the Aljafería by different means. One of these ways was to seize the property of those condemned to death, but orchards and possessions that were adjacent to the palace were also purchased. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies).

Also from this period is the western archway of pointed arches of the Patio de Santa Isabel, intradosed in lobed arches, and a small alcove with a square floor plan and covered with an octagonal wooden dome and a curious small entrance door in a pointed arch with a lobed intrados circumscribed in a very fine alfiz, whose spandrel is adorned with ataurique. This door leads to a triple loggia of semicircular arches. The alcove is located in the building block above the mosque.

Years later, when Pedro IV achieved some political stability, work on the palace continued. Furthermore, there are numerous documents that confirm the existence of rooms set up for animals, for wild beasts. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies).

The year 1356 is important for the kingdom, since the war with Castile begins, and for the Aljafería, because despite the conflict, the works experience a significant increase and enjoy constant royal dedication. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies. p. 26).

En los últimos años del siglo los Reyes Católicos ordenan construir un palacio para uso real sobre el ala norte del recinto andalusí, configurando una segunda planta superpuesta a la del palacio existente. La edificación rompía las partes altas de las estancias taifales, donde se insertaron las vigas que sustentarían el nuevo palacio.

La reforma que ordenó Fernando el Católico, terminada en 1492, multiplicó la belleza de la Aljafería. Además, los salones y cámaras quedaron intactos. Se enmarcaron ostentosos artesonados y alfarjes en el palacio. El nuevo palacio es posterior a la empresa del descubrimiento de América y a la conquista de Granada, pero a pesar de esto, los Reyes Católicos no habitaron en la Aljafería ni celebraron actos importantes, aunque sí recibieron a viajeros o huéspedes ilustres. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

Las obras están fechadas entre 1488 y 1495 y en ellas siguieron participando maestros de obras moriscos, como Faraig y Mahoma de Gali, que, al igual que sucedió con Pedro IV (Yucef y Mohamat Bellito) mantuvieron la tradición de los alarifes del mudéjar en la Aljafería.

Al palacio se accede subiendo la escalera noble o escalera de gala desde el patio de Santa Isabel, una monumental construcción integrada por dos amplios tramos con pretiles de yeserías geométricas caladas iluminada por ventanales de medio punto angrelados de menuda decoración de hojas y tallos de raigambre gótica e influencias mudéjares, rematados en croché sobre la clave de los arcos. En los escudos que hay en estas escaleras en algunos aparecen una granada y en otros no, puesto que la ciudad a la que se refiere fue conquistada mientras se llevaba a cabo la reforma. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

El techo, grandioso, como en el resto de las dependencias palaciegas, se cubre con soberbias bovedillas de revoltón transversales dispuestas entre las jácenas, vigas grabadas, y están decoradas con pintura al temple en oro y azul con motivos iconográficos relativos a los Reyes Católicos: el yugo y las flechas, el mote de <<tanto monta>>, alternan con recuadros de decoración en grisalla de grutescos y candelieri, que anuncia la decoración típica del Renacimiento.

La escalera da acceso a un corredor en la planta primera que comunica con las dependencias palaciegas propiamente dichas. Se abre a una galería de columnas de fuste torso que descansan sobre zapatas con relieves antropomorfos en sus extremos. Para apoyar este mirador y el resto de las nuevas dependencias fue necesario seccionar las zonas altas de los salones taifales del siglo y disponer ante el pórtico norte cinco potentes pilares octogonales que, junto a unas arquerías apuntadas tras ellos, forman un nuevo antepórtico que une los dos pabellones perpendiculares andalusíes antedichos.

Destaca la portada principal de acceso al salón del trono: de arco rebajado trilobulado, guarnecido con un tímpano de cinco lóbulos, en cuyo centro aparece representado el escudo de la monarquía de los Reyes Católicos, en el que figuran los blasones de los reinos de Castilla, León, Aragón, Sicilia y Granada, sostenido por dos leones tenentes. El resto del campo decorativo se acaba con una delicada ornamentación vegetal de factura calada, que reaparece en los capiteles corridos de las jambas. Toda la portada está trabajada en yeso endurecido, que es el material predominante a cara vista en los interiores de la Aljafería, pues los artesanos mudéjares perpetúan los materiales y técnicas habituales en el islam.

En el mismo paramento escoltan el ingreso dos amplios ventanales de triple arco mixtilíneo con celosías caladas sobre sus claves, gracias a los cuales se ilumina el espacio interior de las salas regias.

Una vez recorrido el espacio de la galería, se disponen varias salas que anteceden al gran Salón del Trono, que son denominadas «salas de los pasos perdidos». Se trata de tres pequeñas habitaciones de planta cuadrada comunicadas entre sí por grandes ventanales calados con celosías que dan al patio de San Martín, y que servían de antesalas de espera para quienes iban a ser recibidos en audiencia por los reyes. En todas estas hubo un propósito de riqueza y ostentación destinado a impresionar a los visitantes.

Actualmente ha desaparecido la tercera sala, con lo cual se ha roto la continuidad de circulación alrededor del salón del trono.

Ponen estas tres salas en relación con Santa Isabel, suponiendo que eran habitaciones reales y se las llamaba <<alcoba>>, <<sala o gabinete>> y <<antesala>> de la santa. Hay otra teoría que desmiente que aquí naciera la infanta de Portugal, aunque exista una placa de mármol que diga esto, puesto que fue construido casi doscientos años después del nacimiento de esta.

En nuestros días solo dos son visibles, pues la tercera se vio clausurada al reponer la cúpula de la mezquita. Su techumbre se trasladó a una dependencia contigua al salón del trono.

Uno de los elementos más estimables de estas salas son sus solerías, que en origen eran azulejos cuadrados y alfardones hexagonales de cerámica vidriada en colores, formando caprichosas cenefas. Fueron elaborados en los históricos alfares de Muel (Zaragoza) a fines del siglo . De los fragmentos conservados se ha partido para restaurar el suelo en su totalidad con cerámica que imita la forma y disposición de la antigua solería, aunque no su calidad de reflejos vidriados.

El otro elemento destacable son sus excelsas techumbres estilo mudéjar-reyes católicos, constituidas por tres magníficos taujeles de carpinteros mudéjares aragoneses. Estos techos presentan retículas geométricas de madera posteriormente tallada, pintada y sobredorada con pan de oro, entre cuyas molduras ostentan los conocidos motivos heráldicos de los Reyes Católicos: el yugo, las flechas y el nudo gordiano unido al clásico lema «Tanto monta» (para deshacer el nudo gordiano, tanto monta cortarlo como desatarlo, según la conocida anécdota atribuida a Alejandro Magno), así como un buen número de florones de hojarasca rematados con piñas pinjantes.

the throne room

It is a rectangular room 20 meters long by 7.65 meters wide and 8.25 meters high, located above the Gothic room that occupied the space of the North portico of the "Patio of Santa Isabel", reinforcing the arches and arranging pilasters to support the complex despite which the walls failed, as seen in a section of the 19th century. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council). Its name is due to the birth of the Infanta Isabel of Aragon in Aljafería, who was queen of Portugal in 1282.

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 by 8 meters wide) and its coffered ceiling is supported by thick beams and sleepers that are decorated with lacework that at the intersections form eight-pointed stars, while generating thirty large and deep square coffers.

Inside these coffers are octagons with a central rosette of curly leaf litter that ends in large hanging pine cones that symbolize fertility and immortality. Everything was completely carved and gilded, outside the hall, and then placed with large nails. This ceiling was reflected in the floor, which reproduces the thirty squares with their respective inscribed octagons. The bricks on the floor have been restored in the same way as the originals, but without glazing, and those that were in the front of the living room have been moved, where a wooden platform has now been placed. The drawing of the pavement reproduces, in a geometric scheme, that of the ceiling. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 103).

Under the coffered ceiling runs an elegant gallery of ogee arches that can be passed through and with openwork parapets from which guests could watch the royal ceremonies. To finish, this entire structure rests on an arrocabe with navel moldings carved with vegetal and zoomorphic themes (cardina, branches, vine fruits, winged dragons, fantastic animals...), and, on the frieze that surrounds the entire perimeter of the room, a legend in Gothic calligraphy appears that reads:

The translation of this inscription is:.

This inscription, or what was left of it, also ran along the friezes of the other royal halls.

In addition, some of the pine cones of the coffered ceiling have been left uncarved to replace those missing from the ceiling, and they have been gilded to prevent them from attracting attention within the complex.

The room was illuminated by three chandeliers, probably made of iron, in which candles would be placed, which hung from the ceiling using small pulleys, which are still preserved, and which would serve to lower and light them and raise them to the desired height. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 108).

The living room is restored exactly as it was in the old room, it should be noted that there was no fireplace, it did not exist in this room; and that the walls, in the part where there are no doors or windows, are completely smooth, since they must have been adorned by tapestries from the royal collections or from the Zaragoza chapter. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

At the beginning of 1486, the area of ​​the Patio de San Martín was designated as the headquarters of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition and rooms adjacent to the patio were set up to house the officials of this organization. This is probably the origin of the Torre del Trovador being used as a prison. In some books the year 1485 appears.

This organization was housed in the Aljafería until in 1706 it moved to the Plaza del Carmen and, after several changes of headquarters, in 1759 to the Villahermosa palace, on Calle de Predicadores; It is not daring to assume that when such changes were made it was because the Aljafería building must have been in poor condition, which would increase with abandonment, remaining in partial ruin until the installation of the barracks. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 111).

The new function (which would last until the early years of the 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. Numerous works were carried out in the Aljafería to turn it into a citadel. In 1591, in the events known as Alteraciones de Zaragoza, the persecuted secretary of King Philip II, Antonio Pérez "Antonio Pérez (royal secretary)") took advantage of the Privilege of Demonstration contemplated by the jurisdiction of Aragon in order to elude the imperial troops. However, the Court of the Inquisition had jurisdiction over all the jurisdictions of the kingdoms, and, for this reason, he was confined in the dungeons of the inquisitorial headquarters of the Aljafería, which caused an uprising of the people in the face of what they considered a violation of regional law, and they went to the assault of the Aljafería to rescue him. After the forceful action of the royal army, the revolt was put down, and Philip II decided to consolidate the Aljafería as a fortified citadel under his authority to prevent similar revolts.

The design of the work, which consisted of a "modern" military building, was entrusted to the Sienese military engineer, Tiburzio Spannocchi. He built a set of rooms attached to the south and east walls that hid the ultra-semicircular towers inside, although on the east façade it did not affect those flanking the entrance door and from these onwards. Surrounding the entire building, a crenellated wall was built that left a space for a walkway inside and ended at its four corners in four pentagonal bastions, the beginnings of which can be seen today. The entire complex was surrounded by a twenty-meter-wide moat, re-excavated in 1982 at the initiative of the architect Ángel Peropadre Muniesa"), which was spanned by two drawbridges on the east and south flanks. The appearance of this new plan is reflected in the plan of the Aljafería as we know it after the last restoration completed in 1998.

The Aljafería of Spannocchi remained without substantial changes until 1705, when due to the War of the Spanish Succession it was the accommodation of two companies of French troops, which led to an increase in the parapets of the lower wall of the moat carried out by the military engineer Dezveheforz.

But the decisive transformation as a barracks occurred in 1772 at the initiative of Charles III, in which all the façades were remodeled to the way the western façade is currently presented, and which converted the interior spaces into rooms for the soldiers and officers who stayed in the building. In the western third of the palace, a large parade ground was configured into which the rooms of the different companies flow, made with simplicity and functionality, following the rationalist spirit of the second half of the 18th century and the practical purpose for which the areas built at that time were used. The only thing left pending was the addition in 1862 of four neo-Gothic towers, of which those located in the northwest and southwest corner have survived to this day.

The military part consisted of a large moat, with escarpment and counterescarpment and a fortification of four curtains built with a barbette on the wall of the escarpment that advances forming a covered path and a promenade that runs along the entire perimeter. The moat was crossed in front of the main door by a brick bridge, later replaced by a wooden one with a portcullis. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 114-115).

Philip V's reform put the castle in a position to house around 3,000 men, more as a barracks than as a fortress and, ultimately, it did little damage to the essential structures. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 117).

It was precisely in the middle of the century when Mariano Nougués Secall raised the alarm about the deterioration of the Andalusian and Mudejar remains of the palace in his 1845 report entitled Description and history of the Aljafería castle, a rigorous study in which he urged the preservation of this valuable historical-artistic complex. Even Queen Isabel II contributed funds for the restoration, because in July 1845 she visited the Aljafería and we know that for this reason the rooms were whitewashed and some were cleaned, and a commission was created in 1848 to undertake it; But in 1862 the Aljafería passed from the property of the Royal Heritage into the hands of the Ministry of War, which aborted its restoration and aggravated the damage caused. The aim was to ensure that nothing remained standing of the old Arab palace, not even the mosque.

The castle then took on the barracks appearance that it had until recently, with four angular towers, a monotonous brick exterior with three floors over which the small tower, built or renovated at that time, stood out; The Artillery Park turned the royal halls into weapons depots and everything was masked and changed; The Troubadour tower was the master armorer's quarters and dungeons. Very little was left of so much desolation and in a very short time even the names of the rooms of <<the marbles>>, the <<Fireplace>>, the <<Paraments>>, the <<Jars>> were forgotten, since not even plans were made or notes were taken of what was destroyed. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 119).

The deterioration continued until in 1947 when the architect Francisco Íñiguez Almech undertook, practically alone, the task of its comprehensive restoration, in which he was occupied until his death in 1982.

In the 1960s it was used as a military barracks, and the decoration was covered with plaster.

In 1984, the parliamentary commission created to search for a definitive headquarters for the Cortes of Aragon recommended locating the regional parliament in the Aljafería palace and the Zaragoza City Council (owner of the building) agreed to transfer part of the complex free of charge for this purpose for a period of 99 years.[8]​

In this way, the restoration operations gained new momentum with the actions of Ángel Peropadre, Juan Antonio Souto (in archaeological work), and, starting in 1985, Luis Franco Lahoz and Mariano Pemán Gavín, who carried out the final restoration project of the Aljafería for the location of the headquarters of the Cortes of Aragon.

Once the works were completed, the Aljafería was inaugurated as a historical-artistic monument in 1998 by Prince Felipe de Borbón.

"Hospital, headquarters of the Inquisition, and now, the epicenter of Aragonese democracy, the process to rescue that dreamed Islamic palace began many years before the Cortes of Aragon was established and its reform was not completed until 1998. "A rescue process that began in the 50s and was initiated by the professor and architect Francisco Íñiguez, who is eliminating parts of the old barracks and recovering that lost and dreamed Islamic palace that was under the barracks", explained the architects of the final work, Mariano Pemán and Luis Franco.

The reform would cost more than 200 million pesetas, which would be equivalent, now, to 1,200,000 euros. The result is a building in which multiple styles coexist and that shares its parliamentary use with its tourist use.''

• - Beltrán, A. (1970). The Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council.

• - Ewert, C. (1979). Islamic finds in Balaguer and Aljafería de Zaragoza. Ministry of Education and Science C.

• - Sobradiel, P.I. (2009). La Aljafería: 1800 – 1900, the keys to its recovery. Institute of Islamic Studies.

• - Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies.

• - Expósito Sebastián, M., La Aljafería…, op. cit., p.33.

• - Cabezón Coterón, A. (2017). The Aljafería Palace in Zaragoza: history, architecture and restoration [Final degree project, University of Zaragoza] Institutional Document Repository. [1].

• - University of Zaragoza. (2024). Hallway. Institutional Document Repository. [[2]](https://zaguan.unizar.es/search?ln=es&sc=1&p=alja-fer%C3%ADa&f=&action_search=Buscar&c=trabajos-academicos-universidad-zaragoza&c=tesis&c=materiales-aca demicos&c=bouz&c=normas&c=articu-los&c=communications-presentations&c=proceedings-preprints&c=books&c=reviews-tas&c=historical-funds&c=personal-funds&c=opendata).

• - Farré, M. (April 21, 2023). La Aljafería, from its beginnings as a parliamentary headquarters to now: "We rescued that dreamed of and lost Islamic palace." SER chain. [[3]](https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2023/04/21/la-aljaferia- desde-sus-inicios-como-sede-parlamentaria-a-ahora-rescatamos-aquel-sonado-y-perdido-palacio-islamico-radio-zaragoza/).

• - Annex: Assets of cultural interest of the province of Zaragoza.

• - Annex: Cataloged goods of the province of Zaragoza.

• - , Gonzalo, «The Islamic city», in Guillermo Fatás (dir.), Historical-artistic guide to Zaragoza (3rd ed. rev. and amp.), Zaragoza, City Hall of Zaragoza, 1991, pp. 71-100. ISBN 978-84-86807-76-4 Cf. also the chapter by, María Pilar, «New news about the Aljafería palace» with the news that appeared and the data updated until 2008, in Guillermo Fatás (dir.), Historical-artistic guide to Zaragoza, 4th ed. revised and expanded, Zaragoza, Ayto. de Zaragoza, 2008, pp. 711-727. ISBN 978-84-7820-948-4.

• - , Bernabé (dir.) et al., La Aljafería, vol. I, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 1998. ISBN 978-84-86794-93-4.

• - , Bernabé and Carmelo de Lasa, The Golden Hall of La Aljafería: essay on formal reconstitution and symbolic interpretation, Zaragoza, Institute of Islamic and Near Eastern Studies, 2004. ISBN 978-84-95736-34-5.

• - , Manuel, José Luis Pano Gracia and M.ª Isabel Sepúlveda Sauras, La Aljafería de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 2006 (6th ed.). ISBN 978-84-86794-13-2.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category about the Palacio de la Aljafería "commons:Category:Palacio de la Aljafería (Zaragoza)").

• - Aljafería Palace in the Catalog of monuments of Zaragoza • Zaragoza City Council.

• - Almagro, Antonio, «The image of Aljafería through time. Morphological evolution", in Bernabé Cabañero Subiza (dir.), La Aljafería, vol. II, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 1998, pp. 407-421. ISBN 978-84-86794-94-1.

• - Borrás Gualis, Gonzalo M. and Bernabé Cabañero Subiza (coords.), The Aljafería and the Art of Western Islam in the 11th century. Minutes of the International Seminar held in Zaragoza on December 1, 2 and 3, 2004, Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico», 2012. ISBN 978-84-9911-207-7.

• - Cabañero Subiza, Bernabé, «La Aljafería de Zaragoza», Artigrama, no. 22, 2007, pp. 103-129. ISSN 0213-1498. URL <http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5329>.

• - Ewert, Christian, Spanisch-Islamische Systeme sich Kreuzender Bögen, part one, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1978. Part two, 1980.

• - Nougués Secall, Mariano, Description and history of the Aljaferia Castle, Zaragoza, Antonio Gallifa, 1846.

• - La Aljafería de Zaragoza on Google Maps.

• - La Aljafería in the Museum without borders.

• - The Philippine Aljaferia.

• - Map of the Aljafería.

• - Virtual visit to the Aljafería.

The oldest building in the Aljafería is the so-called "Tower of the Troubadour", which received this name from the romantic drama by Antonio García Gutiérrez, El trovatore, from 1836. This drama was converted into a libretto for Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore, from 1853.

The tower has its main access through a small courtyard closed on the east side of the so-called "marble room", the north of the mosque and annexed buildings, of which some Renaissance elements stand out, such as an opening; or gothic. This complex has been standardized through the arrangement of galleries of semicircular Aragonese arches, superimposed, and the adjacent part of the church of San Martín. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

It is a defensive tower, with a quadrangular plan and five floors, dating from the end of the century (according to Bernabé Cabañero Subiza, from the second half of the century),[4]​ in the period ruled by the first Tuyibí, Muhammad Alanqar, who was appointed by Muhammad I, independent emir of Córdoba. The tower maintains vestiges of the start of the thick walls of alabaster ashlar masonry in its lower part, measuring these 234567865432342457437856m wide, and continued with others of simple gypsum and lime concrete formwork, somewhat thinner as they gained in height, decreasing their thickness to 1.10m.

The tower was rebuilt after a fire burned it in 1039, the year in which the Beni Hud of Lérida took the city of Zaragoza, establishing the capital of their kingdom there. It is known, thanks to this and the documents that confirm the existence of a moat around the tower, that it was a free-standing rectangular construction; and that it will be based on the ordinance of Almoctadir, that the “house of rejoicing” will be built around it. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The original access to the tower was at a door located high up, due to the function of the building, accessing it through a ladder. It is a door located under a horseshoe arch with a split lintel, of Córdoban descent. From this a corridor of alabaster ashlars began, with access to the stairs of the tower on the right, while at the back of this there was access to another room. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The exterior does not reflect the internal division into five floors and appears as an enormous solid prism barely broken by loophole openings. Entry inside was through a small high door that could only be accessed using a portable ladder. Its initial function was, from all these indications, eminently military.

The first floor preserves the construction structure of the 19th century, which houses two naves and six sections separated by two cruciform pillars from which lowered horseshoe arches start. Its walls are made of masonry on the inside and ashlars on the outside. To the left of the access door, there is a hallway that leads to a well, five meters in diameter, equipped with a circular staircase that allows access to the bottom of it (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

In general and despite their simplicity, they make up a balanced room, which rhythms the ceiling in the style of the caliphal mosques and which could have been used as bathrooms.

The second floor, which is accessed through a staircase on which the marks of the fire of 1039 can be seen, is inserted in the wall and covered by barrel vaults (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council), repeats the same spatial scheme of the previous one, and remains of a Muslim factory of the century are observed in the brick canvases, which indicates that the second floor was possibly rebuilt at the same time as the palace in the time of Al-Muqtádir. Built of brick, except for a small area made of stone, for plastering; Its lowered arches stand out (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

On the third floor, whose structure would also date from the 19th century, with horseshoe arches, Mudejar geometric motifs appear painted on the ceiling where the names of Aeneas, Amor and Venus can be read, possibly dating from the 19th century. This floor is the most eclectic of all, since you can see elements of three different styles. The floor plan is organized around a central room, on whose sides there are, in addition to the access staircase, a series of rooms. The architectural elements that can be seen here, in chronological order, are horseshoe arches, semicircular arches and pointed arches; Furthermore, with the help of some interventions, a series of inscriptions have been preserved on some of the arches where you can read “The Empire is Allah's”. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

Something similar occurs with the appearance of the last two floors, of Mudejar construction, and whose construction would be due to the construction of the annexed Pedro IV palace, which is connected to the troubadour tower thanks to a corridor, and would thus be configured as a keep. The arches of these floors already reflect their Christian structure, as they are slightly pointed arches, and they support roofs that are not vaulted, but rather flat wooden structures.

Its function over the 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 Aljafería castle-palace, becoming one of the towers of the defensive framework of the outer northern canvas. After the Christian conquest in 1118, it continued to be used as a keep and in 1486 it became a dungeon for the Inquisition. It was also used as a prison tower in the centuries and , as demonstrated by the numerous graffiti inscribed there by prisoners.

Contenido

La construcción del palacio —en su mayor parte realizada entre 1065 y 1081—[5]​ fue ordenada por Abú Ya'far Ahmad ibn Sulaymán al-Muqtadir Billah, conocido por su título honorífico de Al-Muqtadir ('el Poderoso'), segundo monarca de la dinastía de los Banu Hud, como símbolo del poder alcanzado por la Taifa de Zaragoza en la segunda mitad del siglo . El rey en persona llamó a su palacio Qasr al-Surur ('Palacio de la Alegría') y a la sala del trono que él presidía en recepciones y embajadas, Maŷlis al-Dahab ('Salón Dorado') como se atestigua en los siguientes versos del propio monarca:.

El nombre de Aljafería se documenta por primera vez en un texto de Al-Yazzar as-Saraqusti (activo entre 1085 y 1100) —que transmite además el nombre del arquitecto del palacio taifal, el eslavo Al-Halifa Zuhayr—[5]​ y otro de Ibn Idari de 1109, como derivación del prenombre de Al-Muqtadir, Abu Ya'far, y de «Ya'far», «Al-Yafariyya», que evolucionó a «Aliafaria» y de ahí a «Aljafería».

Al tratarse de un edificio de gran eclecticismo, ha sido necesario por parte de los historiadores, recurrir a documentación que en su gran parte ha sido poco explícita, pero que ha podido arrojar un poco más de certeza sobre algunos matices. Cierto es que la investigación planimétrica no ha podido extenderse más allá de 1593, primer año del que se conservan planos de gran fiabilidad. Lo que sí se sabe es que el Palacio Taifal perdió estima tras la toma cristiana, siendo destacadas por estos nuevos gobernantes, la Sala de los Mármoles y el Salón Dorado (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

La disposición general del conjunto del palacio adopta el arquetipo de los castillos omeyas del desierto de Siria y Jordania de la primera mitad del siglo , (como el de Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi,[6]​ Qusair Mushatta, Jirbat al-Mafyar y, ya de la primera etapa abbasí, el palacio de Ujaidir) que eran de planta cuadrada y torreones ultrasemicirculares en los paños, con un espacio central tripartito, que deja tres espacios rectangulares de los que el central aloja un patio con albercas y, en los extremos septentrional y meridional del mismo, los salones palaciegos y las dependencias de la vida cotidiana.

En la Aljafería se rinde homenaje a este modelo de castillo-palacio, cuya zona noble está situada en el segmento central de su planta cuadrada, si bien el alineamiento de los lados de esa planta es irregular. Es el rectángulo central el que acoge las dependencias palaciegas, organizado en torno a un patio con aljibes frente a los pórticos norte y sur al que vierten las estancias y salones reales.

En los extremos norte y sur se sitúan los pórticos y dependencias de habitación, y en el caso de la Aljafería, el más importante de estos sectores es el norte, que en origen estaba dotado de una segunda planta y poseía mayor profundidad, además de ser antecedido por un testero de columnas abierto y profusamente decorado, que se extendía en dos brazos mediante dos pabellones a sus flancos y que servía de pórtico teatral al salón del trono (el salón dorado de los versos de Al-Muqtadir) situado al fondo. Se producía con ello un juego de alturas y de diversos volúmenes cúbicos que comenzaban por los corredores perpendiculares de los extremos, se resaltaba con la presencia de la altura de la segunda planta y finalizaba con la torre del trovador que ofrecía su volumen al fondo a la mirada de un espectador situado en el patio. Todo ello, reflejado además en el aljibe, realzaba la zona regia, lo que se corrobora por la presencia en el extremo oriental del testero norte de una pequeña mezquita privada con mihrab.

En el centro del muro norte del interior del Salón Dorado había un arco ciego —donde se situaba el rey— en cuya rosca se disponía una trama geométrica muy tradicional imitando la celosía de la fachada del mihrab de la Mezquita de Córdoba, edificio al que se buscaba emular. De este modo, desde el patio, aparecía semioculto por las tramas de columnas tanto de la arquería de acceso al Salón Dorado, como de las del pórtico inmediato, que daban un aspecto de celosía, una ilusión de profundidad, que admiraba al visitante y prestaba esplendor a la figura del monarca.

Para recordar el aspecto del palacio a fines del siglo hay que imaginarse que todos los relieves vegetales, geométricos y epigráficos estaban policromados en tonos en los que predominaba el rojo y el azul para los fondos y el dorado para los relieves, que, junto con los zócalos en alabastro con decoración epigráfica y las solerías de mármol blanco, daba al conjunto un aspecto de gran magnificencia.

Los diversos avatares sufridos por la Aljafería, han hecho desaparecer de esta disposición del siglo gran parte de los estucos que componían la decoración y, con la construcción del palacio de los Reyes Católicos en 1492, toda la segunda planta, que rompió los remates de los arcos taifales. En la restauración actual, se observan en color más oscuro los atauriques originales y en acabados blancos y lisos la reconstrucción de enlucido de la decoración los arcos, cuya estructura, eso sí, permanece indemne.

La decoración de las paredes del Salón Dorado ha desaparecido en su mayor parte, aunque se conservan restos de su ornato en el Museo de Zaragoza y en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid. Francisco Íñiguez inició su restauración, reponiendo las decoraciones que existían en sus lugares de origen y extrayendo vaciados completos de las arquerías del pórtico sur.

Estas fueron las funciones y aspecto del palacio hudí del siglo . A continuación se detallan las partes más importantes del edificio tal y como se encuentran en la actualidad.

North side rooms

The most important set of rooms of the Hudi period palace is built on the northern wall, as it includes the Throne Room or Golden Room and the small private mosque, located on the eastern side of the access porch that serves as an anteroom to the oratory "Oratory (religion)"). Inside it houses a mihrab in the southeast corner, whose niche, therefore, is oriented in the direction of Mecca, as is the case in all the mosques except that of Córdoba.

The floors of the royal rooms were made of marble and an alabaster plinth ran along them. The capitals were made of alabaster, except for some reused marble from the Caliphal period. These rooms were surrounded by a band of epigraphic decoration with Kufic characters that reproduced Koranic suras that alluded to the symbolic meaning of the ornamentation. The surahs that correspond to these inscriptions have been deduced from the surviving fragments.

In two of these calligraphic reliefs the name of Al-Muqtadir can be found, which is why the construction of the palace has been dated, at least in the first phase, between 1065 and 1080. One of them literally says "This [the Aljafería] was ordered to be built by Áhmed al-Muqtadir Billáh."

The Golden Hall had at its east and west ends two rooms that were private bedrooms possibly for royal use. Today the bedroom on the western flank has been lost, which was used as a royal bedroom and was also used by the Aragonese kings until the 19th century.

Most of the atauriques plasterwork, which covered the walls of these rooms with decorative panels carved in plaster, as well as an alabaster plinth two and a half meters high and the white marble floors of the original palace, have been lost. The remains that have been preserved, both in museums and the few found in this royal hall, however, allow us to reconstruct the appearance of this polychrome decoration, which, in its day, must have been splendid.

The ceilings, wooden ceiling tiles, reproduced the firmament, and the entire room was an image of the cosmos, filled with symbols of the power that the monarch of Zaragoza exercised over the celestial universe, who thus appeared as the heir of the caliphs.

Access to the Golden Hall is through a canvas with three openings. A very large central one, made up of five double marble columns with very stylized Islamic alabaster capitals that support four intersecting mixtilinear arches, between which, in height, other simpler horseshoe arches are located.

Towards the south, there is another outbuilding of similar size that opens onto the patio through a porch with large multi-lobed arches. Once again there is a tripartite space, and its east and west ends extend perpendicularly with two side galleries that are accessed through wide multi-lobed arches and which end at the end of their arms in two pointed arches, also multi-lobed, whose alfiz is decorated by complex lacework and reliefs of atauriques.

The Patio of Santa Isabel

This is the open and landscaped space that unified the entire Taifal palace. The north and south porticos flowed into it, and probably, rooms and outbuildings located to the east and west of this central patio.

Its name comes from the birth in the Aljafería of the Infanta Isabel of Aragón "Isabel of Aragón (queen of Portugal)"), who was queen of Portugal in 1282. The original pool on the south has been preserved, while the one on the northern front, from the 19th century, has been covered with a wooden floor. The restoration attempted to give the patio its original splendor, and to achieve this, a floor of marble slabs was installed in the corridors that surround the orange and flower garden.

The original measurements of the patio are estimated to have been around 24 meters wide by 39 meters long, omitting the porticos on the shorter sides. On the longer sides where today galleries have been arranged that open to the patio through semicircular arches, originally there were no porticos or any element that opened to the patio, so the access area to it was located on the short sides. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The arcade that can be seen looking towards the south portico is restored by emptying the original arches that are deposited in the National Archaeological Museum "Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Spain)") in Madrid and in the Museum of Zaragoza, which due to their poor state of conservation, it is believed that they cannot be returned to their place of origin (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council). They represent the greatest daring and distance due to their innovation with respect to the caliphal models of the arches on the north side.

According to Christian Ewert, who has studied the arches of the Aljafería for fifteen years, the more related the ornamentation of the arches is to noble areas (Golden Hall and Mosque), the more respect they have for the Córdoban tradition from which they are based.

South side rooms

Completing the tour of the 19th century palace, we reach the south portico, which consists of an archway on its southern flank that gives access to a portico with two side rooms.

This portico was the anteroom of a large south hall that would have the same tripartite layout as that existing on the north side, and of which only the access archway of mixtilinear arches with geometric decoration remains. Perhaps in this southern sector the greatest daring in terms of arches occurs, through the interweaving of lobed, mixtilinear forms, and the inclusion of small reliefs of shafts and capitals with an exclusively ornamental function.

The complexity of the lacework, atauriques and carvings leads to a baroque aesthetic, which constitutes a prelude to the filigree of the art of the Alhambra and which is one of the most beautiful of all Andalusian art.

Tras la toma de Zaragoza por Alfonso I el Batallador en 1118, la Aljafería fue habilitada como palacio de los reyes de Aragón y como iglesia, no siendo modificado sustancialmente hasta el siglo con la actuación de Pedro IV el Ceremonioso (1336 – 1387).

Este rey amplió las dependencias palaciegas en 1336 y mandó construir la iglesia de San Martín en el patio de ingreso al alcázar. En esta época está documentado el uso de la Aljafería como lugar de partida del recorrido que llevaba a la Seo, donde los monarcas aragoneses eran solemnemente coronados y juraban los fueros.

Pedro IV acomete un verdadero plan de reconstrucción que afecta al edificio en su totalidad sin olvidar ninguno de los aspectos civiles, religiosos y militares del palacio. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. El Palacio de los Reyes de Aragón. Inst. de Estudios Islámicos. p. 22).

Con la entronización de Pedro IV se inicia uno de los más brillantes períodos para la historia y la arquitectura del palacio. Efectivamente, es este rey quien convierte a la Aljafería en un símbolo de la monarquía aristocrática por él instaurada, produciéndose la primera transformación de importancia desde que deja de pertenecer a los árabes. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. El Palacio de los Reyes de Aragón. Inst. de Estudios Islámicos. p. 22-23).

Los primeros frutos de su obra se recogen en 1339 con lo que debe entenderse como la reconstrucción de la capilla de San Martín, para la que encarga dos retablos al pintor barcelonés Ferrer Bassa. También ordena al merino Palacín que haga representar el emblema heráldico de su primera esposa, la reina María de Navarra, en el crucero de la nueva capilla real, de manera que figurase junto al escudo del monarca. (Paulino, E. y Sobradiel, P. I. (2010).

St. Martin's Church

The church of San Martín takes advantage of the walls of the northwest corner of the wall, to the point that one of its towers was used as a sacristy and gave its name to the patio that gives access to the Taifal enclosure.

From the patio of San Martín you go to the patio of the Troubadour and, from this to the patio of Santa Isabel. It summarizes the history of the Aljafería palace, from the Arab constructions of the century to the current barracks works, passing through the Christian, Gothic and Mudejar alterations and the majestic work of the Catholic Monarchs. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

The factory, in the Gothic-Mudejar style, consists of two naves with three sections each, originally facing east and supported by two pillars with semi-columns attached to the middle of the pillar faces, whose section is remembered in the quadrilobes that house the coat of arms of the King of Aragon in the albanegas of the doorway, which dates back to the first decade of the century and which we will stop at later.

The vaults of these naves, with simple ribbing, are housed on pointed arches and perpiaños, while the diagonals are semicircular. At the corners of the vaults there are rosettes with the coats of arms of the Aragonese monarchy. Of its decoration, only fragments of the pictorial covering and some mixtilinear grated arches directly inspired by the Muslim palace remain.

The previously mentioned Mudejar brick doorway stands out on the outside, built in the time of Martin I the Human and open in the last section of the south nave.

The entrance is a later Gothic-Mudejar door. This façade is articulated by a very low carpanel arch, sheltered by another pointed arch of larger dimensions. Framing both, a double alfiz decorated with studded motifs forming rhombus panels.

In the albanegas there are two quadrilobed medallions that house shields with the image of the insignia of the King of Aragon. In the resulting tympanum between the arches there is a band of intersecting mixtilinear blind arches, which again refer to the series of the Hudi palace. This strip is interrupted by a box that houses a recently incorporated relief.

The church was remodeled in the 19th century, adding a nave and therefore covering the Mudejar façade described above. The pillars and walls were renovated and plastered in the neoclassical style. The entire reform was eliminated during the restorations by Francisco Íñiguez, although from the existing photographic documentation, it is known that there was a slender tower that now appears with a crenellated finish, inspired by the appearance of the Mudejar church, and in the century it culminated with a curious bulbous spire. The neoclassical tower was demolished, which rode on top of another Arab one with small horseshoe arches, which protruded a little from the walls, crenellated, which had been solidified to support the load and which is being emptied to make it accessible by an internal staircase. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 26).

The Mudejar palace

The Gothic palace was born as a result of the modifications that the Christian kings ordered in the Arab monument, although it had been built approximately three quarters of a century ago, but the Arab halls continued to be used and provoked the admiration of the Aragonese kings. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

It is not an independent palace, but rather an extension of the Muslim palace that was still in use. Pedro IV tried to provide larger rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms to the Aljafería, since the taifal bedrooms had become too small for the use of the Ceremonious.

These new rooms are grouped on the northern sector of the Andalusian palace, at different height levels. This new Mudejar factory was extraordinarily respectful of the pre-existing construction, both in plan and elevation, and was made up of three large rectangular rooms covered by extraordinary aljarfes or Mudejar wooden ceilings.

In the year 1348, the Black Death devastated the city, so the courts moved to Teruel. Although the king does not forget his palace and grants power to obtain the necessary resources for the works of the Aljafería by different means. One of these ways was to seize the property of those condemned to death, but orchards and possessions that were adjacent to the palace were also purchased. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies).

Also from this period is the western archway of pointed arches of the Patio de Santa Isabel, intradosed in lobed arches, and a small alcove with a square floor plan and covered with an octagonal wooden dome and a curious small entrance door in a pointed arch with a lobed intrados circumscribed in a very fine alfiz, whose spandrel is adorned with ataurique. This door leads to a triple loggia of semicircular arches. The alcove is located in the building block above the mosque.

Years later, when Pedro IV achieved some political stability, work on the palace continued. Furthermore, there are numerous documents that confirm the existence of rooms set up for animals, for wild beasts. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies).

The year 1356 is important for the kingdom, since the war with Castile begins, and for the Aljafería, because despite the conflict, the works experience a significant increase and enjoy constant royal dedication. (Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies. p. 26).

En los últimos años del siglo los Reyes Católicos ordenan construir un palacio para uso real sobre el ala norte del recinto andalusí, configurando una segunda planta superpuesta a la del palacio existente. La edificación rompía las partes altas de las estancias taifales, donde se insertaron las vigas que sustentarían el nuevo palacio.

La reforma que ordenó Fernando el Católico, terminada en 1492, multiplicó la belleza de la Aljafería. Además, los salones y cámaras quedaron intactos. Se enmarcaron ostentosos artesonados y alfarjes en el palacio. El nuevo palacio es posterior a la empresa del descubrimiento de América y a la conquista de Granada, pero a pesar de esto, los Reyes Católicos no habitaron en la Aljafería ni celebraron actos importantes, aunque sí recibieron a viajeros o huéspedes ilustres. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

Las obras están fechadas entre 1488 y 1495 y en ellas siguieron participando maestros de obras moriscos, como Faraig y Mahoma de Gali, que, al igual que sucedió con Pedro IV (Yucef y Mohamat Bellito) mantuvieron la tradición de los alarifes del mudéjar en la Aljafería.

Al palacio se accede subiendo la escalera noble o escalera de gala desde el patio de Santa Isabel, una monumental construcción integrada por dos amplios tramos con pretiles de yeserías geométricas caladas iluminada por ventanales de medio punto angrelados de menuda decoración de hojas y tallos de raigambre gótica e influencias mudéjares, rematados en croché sobre la clave de los arcos. En los escudos que hay en estas escaleras en algunos aparecen una granada y en otros no, puesto que la ciudad a la que se refiere fue conquistada mientras se llevaba a cabo la reforma. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza).

El techo, grandioso, como en el resto de las dependencias palaciegas, se cubre con soberbias bovedillas de revoltón transversales dispuestas entre las jácenas, vigas grabadas, y están decoradas con pintura al temple en oro y azul con motivos iconográficos relativos a los Reyes Católicos: el yugo y las flechas, el mote de <<tanto monta>>, alternan con recuadros de decoración en grisalla de grutescos y candelieri, que anuncia la decoración típica del Renacimiento.

La escalera da acceso a un corredor en la planta primera que comunica con las dependencias palaciegas propiamente dichas. Se abre a una galería de columnas de fuste torso que descansan sobre zapatas con relieves antropomorfos en sus extremos. Para apoyar este mirador y el resto de las nuevas dependencias fue necesario seccionar las zonas altas de los salones taifales del siglo y disponer ante el pórtico norte cinco potentes pilares octogonales que, junto a unas arquerías apuntadas tras ellos, forman un nuevo antepórtico que une los dos pabellones perpendiculares andalusíes antedichos.

Destaca la portada principal de acceso al salón del trono: de arco rebajado trilobulado, guarnecido con un tímpano de cinco lóbulos, en cuyo centro aparece representado el escudo de la monarquía de los Reyes Católicos, en el que figuran los blasones de los reinos de Castilla, León, Aragón, Sicilia y Granada, sostenido por dos leones tenentes. El resto del campo decorativo se acaba con una delicada ornamentación vegetal de factura calada, que reaparece en los capiteles corridos de las jambas. Toda la portada está trabajada en yeso endurecido, que es el material predominante a cara vista en los interiores de la Aljafería, pues los artesanos mudéjares perpetúan los materiales y técnicas habituales en el islam.

En el mismo paramento escoltan el ingreso dos amplios ventanales de triple arco mixtilíneo con celosías caladas sobre sus claves, gracias a los cuales se ilumina el espacio interior de las salas regias.

Una vez recorrido el espacio de la galería, se disponen varias salas que anteceden al gran Salón del Trono, que son denominadas «salas de los pasos perdidos». Se trata de tres pequeñas habitaciones de planta cuadrada comunicadas entre sí por grandes ventanales calados con celosías que dan al patio de San Martín, y que servían de antesalas de espera para quienes iban a ser recibidos en audiencia por los reyes. En todas estas hubo un propósito de riqueza y ostentación destinado a impresionar a los visitantes.

Actualmente ha desaparecido la tercera sala, con lo cual se ha roto la continuidad de circulación alrededor del salón del trono.

Ponen estas tres salas en relación con Santa Isabel, suponiendo que eran habitaciones reales y se las llamaba <<alcoba>>, <<sala o gabinete>> y <<antesala>> de la santa. Hay otra teoría que desmiente que aquí naciera la infanta de Portugal, aunque exista una placa de mármol que diga esto, puesto que fue construido casi doscientos años después del nacimiento de esta.

En nuestros días solo dos son visibles, pues la tercera se vio clausurada al reponer la cúpula de la mezquita. Su techumbre se trasladó a una dependencia contigua al salón del trono.

Uno de los elementos más estimables de estas salas son sus solerías, que en origen eran azulejos cuadrados y alfardones hexagonales de cerámica vidriada en colores, formando caprichosas cenefas. Fueron elaborados en los históricos alfares de Muel (Zaragoza) a fines del siglo . De los fragmentos conservados se ha partido para restaurar el suelo en su totalidad con cerámica que imita la forma y disposición de la antigua solería, aunque no su calidad de reflejos vidriados.

El otro elemento destacable son sus excelsas techumbres estilo mudéjar-reyes católicos, constituidas por tres magníficos taujeles de carpinteros mudéjares aragoneses. Estos techos presentan retículas geométricas de madera posteriormente tallada, pintada y sobredorada con pan de oro, entre cuyas molduras ostentan los conocidos motivos heráldicos de los Reyes Católicos: el yugo, las flechas y el nudo gordiano unido al clásico lema «Tanto monta» (para deshacer el nudo gordiano, tanto monta cortarlo como desatarlo, según la conocida anécdota atribuida a Alejandro Magno), así como un buen número de florones de hojarasca rematados con piñas pinjantes.

the throne room

It is a rectangular room 20 meters long by 7.65 meters wide and 8.25 meters high, located above the Gothic room that occupied the space of the North portico of the "Patio of Santa Isabel", reinforcing the arches and arranging pilasters to support the complex despite which the walls failed, as seen in a section of the 19th century. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council). Its name is due to the birth of the Infanta Isabel of Aragon in Aljafería, who was queen of Portugal in 1282.

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 by 8 meters wide) and its coffered ceiling is supported by thick beams and sleepers that are decorated with lacework that at the intersections form eight-pointed stars, while generating thirty large and deep square coffers.

Inside these coffers are octagons with a central rosette of curly leaf litter that ends in large hanging pine cones that symbolize fertility and immortality. Everything was completely carved and gilded, outside the hall, and then placed with large nails. This ceiling was reflected in the floor, which reproduces the thirty squares with their respective inscribed octagons. The bricks on the floor have been restored in the same way as the originals, but without glazing, and those that were in the front of the living room have been moved, where a wooden platform has now been placed. The drawing of the pavement reproduces, in a geometric scheme, that of the ceiling. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 103).

Under the coffered ceiling runs an elegant gallery of ogee arches that can be passed through and with openwork parapets from which guests could watch the royal ceremonies. To finish, this entire structure rests on an arrocabe with navel moldings carved with vegetal and zoomorphic themes (cardina, branches, vine fruits, winged dragons, fantastic animals...), and, on the frieze that surrounds the entire perimeter of the room, a legend in Gothic calligraphy appears that reads:

The translation of this inscription is:.

This inscription, or what was left of it, also ran along the friezes of the other royal halls.

In addition, some of the pine cones of the coffered ceiling have been left uncarved to replace those missing from the ceiling, and they have been gilded to prevent them from attracting attention within the complex.

The room was illuminated by three chandeliers, probably made of iron, in which candles would be placed, which hung from the ceiling using small pulleys, which are still preserved, and which would serve to lower and light them and raise them to the desired height. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 108).

The living room is restored exactly as it was in the old room, it should be noted that there was no fireplace, it did not exist in this room; and that the walls, in the part where there are no doors or windows, are completely smooth, since they must have been adorned by tapestries from the royal collections or from the Zaragoza chapter. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council).

At the beginning of 1486, the area of ​​the Patio de San Martín was designated as the headquarters of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition and rooms adjacent to the patio were set up to house the officials of this organization. This is probably the origin of the Torre del Trovador being used as a prison. In some books the year 1485 appears.

This organization was housed in the Aljafería until in 1706 it moved to the Plaza del Carmen and, after several changes of headquarters, in 1759 to the Villahermosa palace, on Calle de Predicadores; It is not daring to assume that when such changes were made it was because the Aljafería building must have been in poor condition, which would increase with abandonment, remaining in partial ruin until the installation of the barracks. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 111).

The new function (which would last until the early years of the 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. Numerous works were carried out in the Aljafería to turn it into a citadel. In 1591, in the events known as Alteraciones de Zaragoza, the persecuted secretary of King Philip II, Antonio Pérez "Antonio Pérez (royal secretary)") took advantage of the Privilege of Demonstration contemplated by the jurisdiction of Aragon in order to elude the imperial troops. However, the Court of the Inquisition had jurisdiction over all the jurisdictions of the kingdoms, and, for this reason, he was confined in the dungeons of the inquisitorial headquarters of the Aljafería, which caused an uprising of the people in the face of what they considered a violation of regional law, and they went to the assault of the Aljafería to rescue him. After the forceful action of the royal army, the revolt was put down, and Philip II decided to consolidate the Aljafería as a fortified citadel under his authority to prevent similar revolts.

The design of the work, which consisted of a "modern" military building, was entrusted to the Sienese military engineer, Tiburzio Spannocchi. He built a set of rooms attached to the south and east walls that hid the ultra-semicircular towers inside, although on the east façade it did not affect those flanking the entrance door and from these onwards. Surrounding the entire building, a crenellated wall was built that left a space for a walkway inside and ended at its four corners in four pentagonal bastions, the beginnings of which can be seen today. The entire complex was surrounded by a twenty-meter-wide moat, re-excavated in 1982 at the initiative of the architect Ángel Peropadre Muniesa"), which was spanned by two drawbridges on the east and south flanks. The appearance of this new plan is reflected in the plan of the Aljafería as we know it after the last restoration completed in 1998.

The Aljafería of Spannocchi remained without substantial changes until 1705, when due to the War of the Spanish Succession it was the accommodation of two companies of French troops, which led to an increase in the parapets of the lower wall of the moat carried out by the military engineer Dezveheforz.

But the decisive transformation as a barracks occurred in 1772 at the initiative of Charles III, in which all the façades were remodeled to the way the western façade is currently presented, and which converted the interior spaces into rooms for the soldiers and officers who stayed in the building. In the western third of the palace, a large parade ground was configured into which the rooms of the different companies flow, made with simplicity and functionality, following the rationalist spirit of the second half of the 18th century and the practical purpose for which the areas built at that time were used. The only thing left pending was the addition in 1862 of four neo-Gothic towers, of which those located in the northwest and southwest corner have survived to this day.

The military part consisted of a large moat, with escarpment and counterescarpment and a fortification of four curtains built with a barbette on the wall of the escarpment that advances forming a covered path and a promenade that runs along the entire perimeter. The moat was crossed in front of the main door by a brick bridge, later replaced by a wooden one with a portcullis. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 114-115).

Philip V's reform put the castle in a position to house around 3,000 men, more as a barracks than as a fortress and, ultimately, it did little damage to the essential structures. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 117).

It was precisely in the middle of the century when Mariano Nougués Secall raised the alarm about the deterioration of the Andalusian and Mudejar remains of the palace in his 1845 report entitled Description and history of the Aljafería castle, a rigorous study in which he urged the preservation of this valuable historical-artistic complex. Even Queen Isabel II contributed funds for the restoration, because in July 1845 she visited the Aljafería and we know that for this reason the rooms were whitewashed and some were cleaned, and a commission was created in 1848 to undertake it; But in 1862 the Aljafería passed from the property of the Royal Heritage into the hands of the Ministry of War, which aborted its restoration and aggravated the damage caused. The aim was to ensure that nothing remained standing of the old Arab palace, not even the mosque.

The castle then took on the barracks appearance that it had until recently, with four angular towers, a monotonous brick exterior with three floors over which the small tower, built or renovated at that time, stood out; The Artillery Park turned the royal halls into weapons depots and everything was masked and changed; The Troubadour tower was the master armorer's quarters and dungeons. Very little was left of so much desolation and in a very short time even the names of the rooms of <<the marbles>>, the <<Fireplace>>, the <<Paraments>>, the <<Jars>> were forgotten, since not even plans were made or notes were taken of what was destroyed. (Beltrán, A. (1970). La Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council. p. 119).

The deterioration continued until in 1947 when the architect Francisco Íñiguez Almech undertook, practically alone, the task of its comprehensive restoration, in which he was occupied until his death in 1982.

In the 1960s it was used as a military barracks, and the decoration was covered with plaster.

In 1984, the parliamentary commission created to search for a definitive headquarters for the Cortes of Aragon recommended locating the regional parliament in the Aljafería palace and the Zaragoza City Council (owner of the building) agreed to transfer part of the complex free of charge for this purpose for a period of 99 years.[8]​

In this way, the restoration operations gained new momentum with the actions of Ángel Peropadre, Juan Antonio Souto (in archaeological work), and, starting in 1985, Luis Franco Lahoz and Mariano Pemán Gavín, who carried out the final restoration project of the Aljafería for the location of the headquarters of the Cortes of Aragon.

Once the works were completed, the Aljafería was inaugurated as a historical-artistic monument in 1998 by Prince Felipe de Borbón.

"Hospital, headquarters of the Inquisition, and now, the epicenter of Aragonese democracy, the process to rescue that dreamed Islamic palace began many years before the Cortes of Aragon was established and its reform was not completed until 1998. "A rescue process that began in the 50s and was initiated by the professor and architect Francisco Íñiguez, who is eliminating parts of the old barracks and recovering that lost and dreamed Islamic palace that was under the barracks", explained the architects of the final work, Mariano Pemán and Luis Franco.

The reform would cost more than 200 million pesetas, which would be equivalent, now, to 1,200,000 euros. The result is a building in which multiple styles coexist and that shares its parliamentary use with its tourist use.''

• - Beltrán, A. (1970). The Aljafería. Zaragoza City Council.

• - Ewert, C. (1979). Islamic finds in Balaguer and Aljafería de Zaragoza. Ministry of Education and Science C.

• - Sobradiel, P.I. (2009). La Aljafería: 1800 – 1900, the keys to its recovery. Institute of Islamic Studies.

• - Paulino, E. and Sobradiel, P. I. (2010). La Aljafería 1118 – 1583. The Palace of the Kings of Aragon. Institute of Islamic Studies.

• - Expósito Sebastián, M., La Aljafería…, op. cit., p.33.

• - Cabezón Coterón, A. (2017). The Aljafería Palace in Zaragoza: history, architecture and restoration [Final degree project, University of Zaragoza] Institutional Document Repository. [1].

• - University of Zaragoza. (2024). Hallway. Institutional Document Repository. [[2]](https://zaguan.unizar.es/search?ln=es&sc=1&p=alja-fer%C3%ADa&f=&action_search=Buscar&c=trabajos-academicos-universidad-zaragoza&c=tesis&c=materiales-aca demicos&c=bouz&c=normas&c=articu-los&c=communications-presentations&c=proceedings-preprints&c=books&c=reviews-tas&c=historical-funds&c=personal-funds&c=opendata).

• - Farré, M. (April 21, 2023). La Aljafería, from its beginnings as a parliamentary headquarters to now: "We rescued that dreamed of and lost Islamic palace." SER chain. [[3]](https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2023/04/21/la-aljaferia- desde-sus-inicios-como-sede-parlamentaria-a-ahora-rescatamos-aquel-sonado-y-perdido-palacio-islamico-radio-zaragoza/).

• - Annex: Assets of cultural interest of the province of Zaragoza.

• - Annex: Cataloged goods of the province of Zaragoza.

• - , Gonzalo, «The Islamic city», in Guillermo Fatás (dir.), Historical-artistic guide to Zaragoza (3rd ed. rev. and amp.), Zaragoza, City Hall of Zaragoza, 1991, pp. 71-100. ISBN 978-84-86807-76-4 Cf. also the chapter by, María Pilar, «New news about the Aljafería palace» with the news that appeared and the data updated until 2008, in Guillermo Fatás (dir.), Historical-artistic guide to Zaragoza, 4th ed. revised and expanded, Zaragoza, Ayto. de Zaragoza, 2008, pp. 711-727. ISBN 978-84-7820-948-4.

• - , Bernabé (dir.) et al., La Aljafería, vol. I, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 1998. ISBN 978-84-86794-93-4.

• - , Bernabé and Carmelo de Lasa, The Golden Hall of La Aljafería: essay on formal reconstitution and symbolic interpretation, Zaragoza, Institute of Islamic and Near Eastern Studies, 2004. ISBN 978-84-95736-34-5.

• - , Manuel, José Luis Pano Gracia and M.ª Isabel Sepúlveda Sauras, La Aljafería de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 2006 (6th ed.). ISBN 978-84-86794-13-2.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category about the Palacio de la Aljafería "commons:Category:Palacio de la Aljafería (Zaragoza)").

• - Aljafería Palace in the Catalog of monuments of Zaragoza • Zaragoza City Council.

• - Almagro, Antonio, «The image of Aljafería through time. Morphological evolution", in Bernabé Cabañero Subiza (dir.), La Aljafería, vol. II, Zaragoza, Cortes de Aragón, 1998, pp. 407-421. ISBN 978-84-86794-94-1.

• - Borrás Gualis, Gonzalo M. and Bernabé Cabañero Subiza (coords.), The Aljafería and the Art of Western Islam in the 11th century. Minutes of the International Seminar held in Zaragoza on December 1, 2 and 3, 2004, Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico», 2012. ISBN 978-84-9911-207-7.

• - Cabañero Subiza, Bernabé, «La Aljafería de Zaragoza», Artigrama, no. 22, 2007, pp. 103-129. ISSN 0213-1498. URL <http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5329>.

• - Ewert, Christian, Spanisch-Islamische Systeme sich Kreuzender Bögen, part one, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1978. Part two, 1980.

• - Nougués Secall, Mariano, Description and history of the Aljaferia Castle, Zaragoza, Antonio Gallifa, 1846.

• - La Aljafería de Zaragoza on Google Maps.

• - La Aljafería in the Museum without borders.

• - The Philippine Aljaferia.

• - Map of the Aljafería.

• - Virtual visit to the Aljafería.