Aragón's ancient capital on the Ebro — where the colossal Baroque Basilica del Pilar meets the 11th-century Islamic Aljafería Palace and 14 centuries of layered history unfold between a Roman forum and the Napoleonic siege trenches
Zaragoza is Aragón's capital (700,000 metro), straddling the Ebro River at the geographic heart of Spain, most famous for the Baroque Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar — one of the largest Catholic churches in the world, with eleven domes visible across the plain. The Aljafería Palace (UNESCO), built as an 11th-century pleasure palace for Moorish taifa rulers, later became the royal court of Aragonese kings and the seat of the Spanish Inquisition; its Gothic throne room where Fernando and Isabel signed the decrees for Columbus's voyage survives intact. The medieval Puente de Piedra stone bri…
Zaragoza (Roman Caesaraugusta) was founded by Caesar Augustus in 14 BCE at the confluence of the Ebro, Huerva, and Jalón rivers, making it one of Iberia's most strategically sited Roman colonies, with forum and port remains visible underground today. The Taifa Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza (1018–1110) produced the Aljafería Palace and a court renowned for mathematics and poetry before the city fell to Alfonso I of Aragón. Napoleon besieged Zaragoza twice in 1808–1809; the city's extraordinary civilian resistance under General Palafox — house-by-house fighting that killed nearly 55,000 defenders…