Natural border with Soria and located, furthermore, a few kilometers from that sublime geographical feature, constituted by one of the most mysterious and legendary mountains in Spain, none other than its glorious Majesty, Moncayo, the city of Tarazona is, in itself , one of the great heritage jewels of the ancient Crown of Aragon.
Its monumental beauty, where, as soon as the surprised traveler's eyes focus, he will have the sublime sensation of finding himself in another genuine capital of Mudejar Art, is evident in the formidable towers of its churches and, especially, in those of its unusual cathedral, where its wonderful octagonal dome stands out, like an unprecedented mirage.
In fact, it is, however artificial such a comment may seem, one more of the admirable wonders that make up this imposing architectural complex, which is a cathedral, that of Santa María de la Huerta - let us remember this curious invocation, since we also find it in one of the most venerable monasteries of Soria, of the same name and in one of the most famous Templar churches in Spain, that of Puente la Reina, with its 14th century Rhenish Christ, crucified on a cross in the shape of a goose's foot. the oldest in Spain.
A cathedral, which began to be built in 1119 - at the same time, more or less, with the creation of the Order of the Temple in Jerusalem - the year in which Tarazona was reconquered by Alfonso I the Battler: precisely, in addition, the king who benefited in his will the Military Orders, especially the Temple, being compared, in some areas, with the mythical Amfortas, the Fisher King of the legends of the Holy Grail, which, let us remember, have so much to do with Aragon and places surprising, such as the monastery of San Juan de la Peña.
Located outside the old walls of the city, on one side of the bank formed by the Queiles River - whose birth is disputed by Aragon and Soria and whose phonetics recalls one of the most sacred and revered mountains in Asia, such as the Kailas - it is It is known, from the archaeological discoveries made during the long years of restoration, that its foundations are located next to an ancient late Roman necropolis and a Visigothic baptistery from the 5th century.
Precisely, of centuries and styles, the cathedral of Tarazona is a formidable time capsule, where, in the light of some amazing paintings that made it be considered 'the Sistine Chapel of the Spanish Renaissance', a Romanesque architecture is combined, which was incorporating solutions of an initial Gothic and of probable French origin, incorporating Mudejar elements, such as the suggestive lattices of the cloister and chapels where the splendor of other later styles, such as the Renaissance and the Baroque, once shone.
Magnificent, as a whole, is the ambulatory, an architectural element that symbolically reproduced the characteristics of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and functionally, allowed pilgrims to move around the relics contained in the different chapels, without interrupting the mass.
It is precisely in this part where the paintings that made it famous are located, alternating Romanesque-Gothic remains with others, perhaps, more exuberant and Renaissance, which gave it, properly speaking, glory and splendor.
In short: an essential place, one of which the Spanish writer, Juan Eslava Galán, recommends visiting at least once in your life, where it is not difficult, due to its immeasurable content, to experience in first person what is considered as 'the syndrome of Stendhal' or an artistic overload, of the first magnitude.
NOTICE: Both the text, the accompanying photographs, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and are therefore subject to my Copyright.
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