Introduction

During the centuries of Modernity and with the help of a revived urbanism and the growing prominence of municipal power, many of the town halls were either renovated or newly built, incorporating a variety of services and a symbolic character of authority. instructions In fact, most of those preserved in Navarre date back to these centuries, and the renewal of the "ordinances for the good government of the towns" approved by the Cortes in 1547, which tried to regularize and standardize the municipal government and granted it new powers, was also decisive.

place They were erected in central squares both of previous origin -as for example in Pamplona, Estella or Viana- and also as a result of a new urban development design as in the case of Larraga, where, in addition to the town hall, a granary, inn and bullrings were planned.

The new municipal buildings have a series of common features, repeating in all of them the arrangement of elegant balconies, which served as a box for the authorities, as well as the corresponding heraldry in a prominent place on the facade. They also incorporated arcades with neighborhood, commercial or simply sheltering functions. On some occasions they culminated with a finial for bells and clock, accrediting inscriptions or some allegory associated with the virtues of good government, as in Pamplona or Vera de Bidasoa.

On the inside, the buildings are usually articulated around a hallway, which leads to the staircase of honor, and on the main floor, to the plenary hall, where the authority of the municipality resides. In addition to these essential elements, many others were added, according to the needs of each town or city: from dungeons to barns or warehouses, including the royal weight, commercial spaces, taverns, homes and even elementary schools.

The council buildings in Navarre morphologically offer the same characteristics as the stately domestic architecture, with brick prevailing on the facades of the Ribera, stone and rendered walls in the northern lands, and both materials being skilfully combined in the area average, where there are also preserved town halls made entirely of stone.

In Navarre, as mentioned above, many examples are preserved, and this virtual visit -without quantitative vocation- shows some of the most interesting of the Merindad de Pamplona.