March 18, 2009

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

STATELY HOMES AND PALACES OF NAVARRA

Palatial architecture in Aragon and its relations with Navarre

Mr. Javier Ibáñez Fernández
University of Zaragoza

issue Our attention has been focused on the study of the palatial architecture erected in Aragon during the 16th century, a particularly rich and interesting period of time, during which a large number of houses or palaces, both private and public, were built -or renovated- according to typological models with medieval roots, and of agreement to the building traditions of each area, that is to say, with brick and plaster -with rejola and with aljez- around the middle valley of the Ebro -a context comparable, in all senses, to the rich Navarrese Ribera-, and with different types of stone on the margins of the extensive fluvial depression formed by the river.

Among the private promoters we should mention the Royal House itself -we should not forget that the Catholic Monarchs tackled the reform of the Aljafería palace in Zaragoza around 1492-, the most important titles of the kingdom, the mercantile bourgeoisie, or the great ecclesiastics, but also the great monasteries and their own abbots. In fact, it should be noted that many houses of religion erected new buildings in the city of the Ebro in order to be able to carry out from there the necessary steps for their own survival, and that some abbots ended up building themselves authentic palaces within the monastic enclosures, constructions which, of course, should not be understood so much as dwellings, but as buildings of representation and government. On the other hand, although most of the actions of this subject had as privileged framework the most important population centers of the kingdom, the importance of the interventions developed in rural areas should not be underestimated, in which old medieval castles were reformed and adapted to the tastes of the time - such as that of the Luna family in Illueca (Zaragoza), that of the Liñán family in Cetina (Zaragoza), or that of the Gurrea family in Argavieso (Huesca) -, and new houses and palaces were built, such as that of the Counts of Ribagorza in Benasque (Huesca).
 

Zaragoza. Palace of La Aljafería. Throne room.
Photo: Javier Ibáñez Fernández

Zaragoza. Palace of Don Pedro Martínez de Luna, currently the Provincial Court. Photo: Javier Ibáñez Fernández
 

Among the public developers were the general institutions of the kingdom -the Provincial Council built its houses in Zaragoza on the banks of the Ebro-, the Communities -the Teruel Community built its headquarters in front of Santa María de Mediavilla at the end of the 16th century-, and the councils themselves, which erected their buildings of representation and government, reserving their first floors -generally open through arcades- for markets or, failing that, building independent commodities exchanges, which could be open, like the one in Alcañiz (Teruel), or closed, like the one in Zaragoza, a worthy heir to those of Palma and Valencia.

Both private and public buildings responded to typological models of medieval roots that, nevertheless, came to be ordered from agreement to new principles of compositional organization pursuing symmetry and a sense of sobriety, but without too many consequences either in the articulation of the facades -which continued to be very simple and severe-, or in the organization of the interiors. In addition, they were affected by the irruption of the new Roman ornamental repertoire and, over time, the arrival, adoption and adaptation of the Italian system of classical orders, an extremely interesting process that can be traced from the study of the Structures but, above all, of the elements used to articulate them, built with a certain freedom and from an essentially ornamental sense at first, would end up being defined according to the perfectly regulated models offered by the architectural treatises, which would make it possible to achieve increasingly sober and severe and, in final, classical ensembles.
 

Tarazona (Zaragoza). Episcopal Palace. Staircase of apparatus.
Photo: Javier Ibáñez Fernández

Huesca. City Hall. General view of the hallway and the start of the staircase. Photo: Javier Ibáñez Fernández

Zaragoza. The fish market. Photo: Javier Ibáñez Fernández