Aljafería
in Zaragoza, SpainCategory: Attraction
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Palacio de la Aljafarería, 50004 Zaragoza, Spain Print route »
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The Aljafería Palace (Spanish: Palacio de la Aljafería; Arabic: قصر الجعفرية, tr. Qasr al-Jaʿfariya) is a fortified medieval Islamic palace built during the second half of the 11th century in the Taifa of Zaragoza of Al-Andalus, present day Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. It was the residence of the Banu Hud dynasty during the era of Abu Jaffar Al-Muqtadir after abolishing Banu Tujibi of Kindah dynasty. The palace reflects the splendor attained by the kingdom of the taifa of Zaragoza at the height of its grandeur. The palace currently contains the Cortes (regional parliament) of the autonomous community of Aragon.The structure holds unique importance in that it is the only conserved testimony of a large building of Spanish Islamic architecture of the era of the Taifas (independent kingdoms). So, a magnificent example of the Caliphate of Córdoba, its Mosque (10th century), and the Alhambra of Granada in Al-Andalus must be included in the triad of the Hispano-Muslim architecture the Aljafería of Zaragoza (11th century) as an example of the realizations of the taifa art, in the intermediate time of independent kingdoms previous to the arrival of the Almorávides. The Mudéjar remains of the palace of the Aljafería were declared World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2001 as part of the "Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon" ensemble.
The solutions adopted in the ornamentation of the Aljafería, such as the use of mixtilinear arcs and of the springers in «S», the extension of the arabesque in large surfaces or the outlining and progressive abstraction of the yeseria of vegetal character, influenced the Almoravid art and Almohad art both of the Magreb and of the Iberian peninsula. Also, the transition from decoration to more geometric motifs is at the base of Nasrid art.
