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The third Mudéjar church features a Gothic portal and another altar by Damián Forment, as well as a pyramid-spired octagonal tower, whose shape is echoed by two lanters flanking the portal.
San Pablo is a church in Zaragoza, Spain. Its original Gothic-Mudéjar building dates to the late 13th/early 14th-century; later it was enlarged and modified several times.
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Nuestra Señora del Pilar
The more famous of the two cathedrals is the one on the bank of the river Ebro. Holding an additional rank of basilica, this cathedral venerates the Virgin Mary who reportedly appeared to Saint James the Apostle on said riverbank during his travels in Iberia. Mary appeared on a pillar, which led to her being venerated under this particular name and also gave origin to the unusual Spanish female given name Pilar.
Saint James is believed to have had a small shrine constructed by the pillar, of which nothing remains, but subsequently a large basilica was built on the site in the 3rd century under the rule of the Roman Emperor Constantine. This basilica has been rebuilt over the years, and became a Gothic church in the 15th century. The present-day version of the church superseded it and was constructed on the orders of King Charles II of Spain between 1681 and 1872. The protracted construction has been caused by frequent redesigns, including a reorientation, additions of towers and cupolas. It also allowed for the domes to be painted by Francisco Goya a century after the construction started, and the vault paintings are now one of the main attractions on the inside of the cathedral.
Ibercaja Collection
Museum displaying a collection of Goya and temporary exhibitions. (March 2026: temporarily closed.)
Carmen Gate
A surviving example of what once were 12 entry gates to the walled city of Zaragoza. The gate looks ancient, but was actually built in 1789 in neoclassical style, hence its resemblance to Roman ruins. The gate's dishevelled appearance documents its role in several sieges of the city and this is why the gate was not restored to its original glory - although minor repairs were carried out in 1997, when a bus collided with it
Almost everything here is from the era of the emperor Tiberius: it was the site of the original forum from Augustus' time, but it was all demolished after the river flooded, and materials from it were used as filler when raising the street level 4-7 metres, and building a bigger one. As well as models of the two versions, there's the opportunity to walk along a Roman sewer.