Zaragoza
November 2023
After Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville, Zaragoza is the fifth largest city in Spain. The old town is beautiful, and Zaragoza has it all - cathedrals, big urban spaces, tapas, a river with nice bridges, parks, etc.
Zaragoza has good modern architecture too. In 2008 the city hosted the big International Expo – and that means modern architecture with a current function and modern architecture as abandoned buildings that were not dismantled after the Expo. The best information on the Expo 2008 is given by La Asociación Legado Expo Zaragoza 2008 (the Expo legacy / heritage association). You find their information (in Spanish) here.
The national tourist information website presents only monuments, the tourist information of Zaragoza city shows some functioning modern architecture of the 2008 Expo, but not other architourism destinations elsewhere in the city. Two places should not be missed: the CaixaForum and the Pablo Serrano Museum.
CaixaForum is a cultural institution with beautiful architecture. CaixaForum can be found in ten other major cities too, like Seville (elsewhere on this site, click here). CaixaForum Zaragoza is a wonderful building – a staggering design (a matter of perception of course), a peaceful modern art retreat, with a nice viewing platform and terrace, and good coffee.
The Pablo Serrano Museum, close to CaixaForum, is something different. It opened in 1994 and is partly a reconstruction of an older industrial building. A big extension (from 2500 m2 to 7400 m2) was completed in 2011. The museum’s website gives a concise history of the building, including old photos. The outside looks like a complex contemporary version of brutalist architecture (it meets most criteria given by Kristin Hohenadel in het article in the Spruce). It is not exactly a building that made me happy, like some other brutalist building are not really happy buildings. But the building is well worth a visit. It is about discovering layers of history, materials, atmospheres, various exposition spaces, a huge hall with escalators to the 6 storeys, and more. Access is free.
