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PAMPLONA, A FORTIFIED CITY.
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Ramparts,
gardens and the Palace of the kings of Navarre
The walled enclosure of Pamplona already existed
in the Middle Ages. In addition to these ramparts, the city’s defence was
completed by the castle erected by King Luis el Hutín in 1308 on the
eastern side of the present-day Plaza del Castillo (Castle Square) and by
the various towers along the ramparts and the various church – fortresses
such as San Saturnino, San Nicolás and San Lorenzo.
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annexed by Fernando the Catholic to that of Castile, his military engineers
advised him to renew the city’s entire defensive system. The important of
Pamplona as a fortified city was self-evident, given the proximity of France,
a country that was in continuous conflict with the Castilian monarchy.
Moreover, at this time, the legitimate monarchs of Navarre had taken refuge
in this neighbouring country and still held hopes of recovering their
kingdom.
For all these
reasons, it became urgent to
provide this frontier city with a modern defence system. The first step was
to construct a new castle, which was sited where the present day provincial
council building- the Palacio de la Diputación – now stands.
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Once the New Castle had been
constructed, Carlos
I then dedicated his efforts to modernising the ramparts encircling the city.
During his reign, “controversial areas” were created where building was
prohibited. These areas primarily affected the belt just outside the city
walls, where the enemy could become established during a siege of the city.
The great defensive construction of Pamplona took place in the reign of
Felipe II, in the form of the modern citadel or Ciudadela. Once this had
been completed, the antiquated castle of Fernando the Catholic disappeared.
Throughout Modern Times, monarchs have shown a great interest in renovating
and maintaining the city’s defences in good condition until, finally, the
new military advances rendered the old rampart system useless. As a result,
at the end of the 19th century the Fort of Alfonso XII was
constructed on the nearby hill of San Cristobal.
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Shortly
afterwards, in
1888, authorisation was given to demolish part of the ramparts and two
bastions of the citadel in order to start work on the first suburban
extension of Pamplona, which started to develop outside the walled area.
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A walk along the walls is very pleasant
experience indeed, providing you with some wonderful views of the city’s
green belt. It is also possible to walk round the bottom of some areas of
the walls, enabling you to appreciate the actual strength and defensive
nature of the ramparts.
Next to the Bastion of San Bartolomé (1),
the former site of the 18th century fort of the same name, is the
Media Luna (Half moon) park (2), designed by the architect Víctor
Eusa in 1935. Decorated with romantic pergolas, ponds and parterres, it
offers some excellent views of the Arga river and the cathedral. The
monument to Pablo Sarasate, the violinist, is to be found here.
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If you follow the
walls, you will come to the
Bastion of Labrit (3).
This area contained the former Jewish quarters of Pamplona, with its own
cemetery on the other side of the ramparts. The kingdom of Navarre was the
last kingdom in the peninsular to expel the Jews, in 1498. The eastern part
of the ramparts, from the bastion of Labrit to the bastion of Redín (4)
is known as the Ronda Barbazana, since it passes behind the cathedral chapel
of this same name and it is one that was remodelled in the reign of Carlos I.
If you look down from the Redín bastion, you will be able to see the start
of the low bastion of Guadalupe (5) and the Magdalena bridge (6),
one of the many Medieval bridges that cross the river Arga.
It was named
after the former hospital that was located on the other side of the river
and it is a crossing point to Pamplona for pilgrims on their way to
Santiago. Continuing with the walk, you will come to one of the fortified
gateways providing access to the walled enclosure, the Portal de Francia
(7), this gateway is also known as the "portal de Zumalacárregui",
since, as the story goes, it was the city gateway used by General Zumalacárregui
when he set off to mobilise his troops in the first Carlist war.
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The gateway
dates back to 1553, and it is the oldest remaining one still to be conserved.
The low bastion of Pilar is located beneath the gateway (8) and the
ravelin of the Reyes (9), and, to the left, you can observe the
bastion of Abrevador (10).
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If you continue along the
route, you will pass
through the palace of the Kings of Navarre or Palacio de los Reyes de
Navarra (11), over the half-bastion of Parma (12).
This
palace, which has now been converted into the Archive of
Navarre,
after the restoration carried out by the architect Rafael Moneo, was the
motive for disputes between the monarch and the bishop practically
throughout the entire Middle Ages.
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The
palace was constructed in the reign of Sancho VI the Wise (1150 – 1194)
and the semi-basement in the north wing corresponds to this same period. The
patio gallery was erected at a later date during the 15th century
and was then reformed in the 16th century to introduce the
typical Castilian footing.
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The portal pertains to the period of Charles I of
Spain and was reworked in 1598, on the occasion of a visit by Felipe II.
Behind the palace were the vegetable plots and gardens dropping down towards
the park of Santo Domingo.
If you continue with the walk along the
wall,
passing behind the Museum of Navarre, after crossing the steep street of
Santo Domingo, to the area which is known as the Paseo de Ronda (13).
Below you will see the Rochapea bridge (14), where another of the
former rampart gateways was located. This was taken down in 1914 and now
only the coat of arms remains, this was mounted on the new gateway or Portal
Nueva (15), opened in the ramparts in 1950 in order to facilitate
access to the city from the North. Through this gateway, you will reach the
park of the Taconera, where parts of the walls are still to be found and the
bastions of Gonzaga, the half moon of San Roque and the bastion of the
Taconera, all constructed at the end of the 17th century or
beginning of the 18th century.
This park is the oldest park in
Pamplona and, in addition to the monument to Julian Gayarre, the ancient
Mariblanca fountain and two cafeterias, the park also has a curious type of
zoo with deer, wild boar, peacocks and other species roaming in the actual
moats of the former ramparts. In the street named Calle del Bosquecillo,
which borders these gardens, you can contemplate the gateway of San Nicolás
(16), which gave access to the borough of the same name and which was
constructed in 1666 together with the Taconera gateway.
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Both gateways were
taken down, however the gateway of San NIcolás was re-installed at the
entrance to the gardens whereas the Taconera gateway was not so lucky and
now only the inscriptions remain. A reproduction of the gateway has been
placed opposite the Antoniutti park. (17).
The Ciudadela or
Citadel of Pamplona (18)
This is the most important part of the Pamplona fortifications still to be
conserved. Construction commenced in 1571 during the reign of Felipe II
based on the drawings of the military engineer Giacomo Palearo, known as
Fratín, who had also been involved in the reform of the castle of Santa Bárbara
in Valencia and the castle of Santa Cruz in La Coruña. The new citadel was
designed to provide protection against the new long-range canons, this
latest advance in war techniques had made the former castle of Fernando the
Catholic redundant.
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In this
way, Palearo, aided by the viceroy of Navarre, Vespasiano
Gonzaga, the Marques of Sabioneda and the Duke of
Trayetto, designed a defensive building similar to the modern citadel of
Antwerp, designed by the engineer Francisco Pacciotoo, a uniform pentagon
with a bastion at each of its five points.
The bastions were named San
Felipe el Real, Santa María, Santiago, San Antón and the Victoria. These
latter two bastions were demolished in 1888 to construct the city’s first
suburban extension, although some of the remains of the San Antón bastion
can be observed in the auditorium of Pamplona, which is named “El
Baluarte” or the bastion.
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Under the viceroyalty of the Count of Oropesa,
half moons were added, known as Santa Teresa, Santa Ana, Santa Isabel, Santa
Clara and Santa Lucía. Construction of the citadel was concluded in 1646,
and the fortress was visited that same year by Felipe IV. To commemorate the
conclusion of the works and the royal visit, the king’s coat of arms were
placed on the main gateway opening out onto the avenue named the Avenida del
Ejército, in addition to the coats of arms of the Count of Oropesa, Luis
Guzmán and Ponce de León, promoters of this latest work. Under the coats
of arms you can read the inscription referring to the construction of the
fortress in the period of Felipe II.
However, new work still continued to be carried
out within the fortress to provide it with other services, such as the
powder magazine, designed in 1694 by the engineer Hercules Torelli, the Arms
Room, the former artillery arsenal, designed in 1725 by the engineer Jorge
Prospero Verboom, who designed the citadel of Barcelona, the Oven and the
former food store and wine cellar, today known as the Pabellón de Mixtos,
constructed at the end of the 17th Century and remodelled in 1720
by Ignacio de Sala. This same engineer, who had already worked on the
construction of the Royal Tobacco Factory at Sevilla, was also responsible
for the bombproof vaults protecting the entrances to the citadel.
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The modern construction demonstrated its
effectiveness, since it was never taken by force. It was only conquered
once, and that was due to the astuteness of the attackers who used some
inoffensive snowballs as their only weapon.
It happened during the winter of
1808, when due to the treaty of Fontainebleau, the French troops made their
camp on the outside of the city due to the fact that the prudent viceroy,
the Marques of Vallesantoro refused to house them inside the military
fortress. However, every morning, the French troops came to the citadel to
collect the necessary provisions.
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On the 16th
February, after a
copious snowfall, the French started to throw snowballs at the Navarre
soldiers guarding the citadel who, enjoying the game, forgot all about their
duties and suddenly found themselves surrounded and disarmed by the foreign
troops. Shortly afterwards the war of Independence broke out in
Spain.
In 1966 the military authorities handed the
citadel over to the Pamplona city council and today its facilities are used
for exhibitions. In its gardens and in the park of the Vuelta del Castillo
surrounding the citadel there are a series of sculptures that have
transformed this area into a pleasant open-air museum.
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Book
your hotel here
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Asociación de Hoteles de
Pamplona. C/ Pedro I, 1-1º 31007 Pamplona (Navarra).
CIF G31/626526 - info@hotelespamplona.com
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