Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa[ ] ( ),[ ] is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva and the Gállego, roughly in the centre of both Aragon and the Ebro basin.
On 1 January 2021, the population of the municipality of Zaragoza was 675,301,[ Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)[1]] (as of 2023, the fourth most populous in Spain) on a land area of . It is the 26th most populous municipality in the European Union. The population of the metropolitan area was estimated in 2006 at 783,763 inhabitants. The municipality is home to more than 50 percent of the Aragonese population. The city lies at an elevation of about above sea level.
Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008 in the summer of 2008, a world's fair on water and sustainable development. It was also a candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2012.
The city is famous for its folklore, local cuisine, and landmarks such as the Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral and the Aljafería Palace. Together with La Seo and the Aljafería, several other buildings form part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fiestas del Pilar are among the most celebrated festivals in Spain.
Etymology
The
Iberians town that preceded Roman colonisation was called
Salduie or
Salduba.
The Romans and Greeks called the ancient city Caesaraugusta (in Greek Καισαραυγοῦστα, ),
[ Strabo, Geography, 3.2.15][ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Caesăraugusta] from which derive the Arabic name سرقسطة Saraqusṭa (used during the
Al-Andalus period), the medieval Çaragoça, and the modern
Zaragoza.
History
The
Sedetani, a tribe of
ancient Iberians, populated a village called (Salduba in Roman sources).
Roman Caesaraugusta
Augustus founded the city as
Caesaraugusta between 25 BC and 11 BC
as a colony to settle army veterans from the
Cantabrian wars. As a Roman city, it had all the typical public buildings: forum,
Thermae, theatre, and was an important economic centre. Many Roman ruins can still be seen in Zaragoza today.
It is thought it might have been the Apostle James who had built a chapel on the site of the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar.
On the spot where Engratia and her companions were said to have been martyred on Valerian's[It is nowadays thought likely that she died during the earlier persecution. It was previously assumed that she had been killed during the Diocletian persecution in around 303 under the prefect Dacian.] orders was the Church of Santa Engracia de Zaragoza. Only the crypt and the doorway survived the Peninsular War. Around the early 20th century it was rebuilt, and is now a functioning parish church.
Middle Ages
Despite the general decline of the last centuries of the Roman empire, Zaragoza suffered little. Capture by the
Goths in the fifth century AD was without significant bloodshed or destruction.
In the eighth century, following the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Zaragoza became the capital of the Upper March of al-Andalus.
In 1018, amid the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Zaragoza became an independent Taifa of Zaragoza, initially controlled by the Banu Tujib family,
On 18 December 1118, Alfonso I of Aragon conquered the city from the Almoravids,
Jewish community
There was a
Jews community in medieval Zaragoza, a notable center where
Yeshiva also incorporated the study of philosophy alongside
Torah study.
In the 11th century, the city was home to several notable Jewish physicians, including Menahem ibn al-Fawwal and Jonah ibn Janah, the latter of whom also gained renown as a Hebrew grammarian. Ibn Janah authored
Kitāb al-Talkhīṣ, which included detailed descriptions of drugs, weights and measures used in medicine.
Another prominent figure was Jonah ibn Biklārish, who served as court physician to Sultan Al-Musta'in II and authored
Kitāb al-Musta'īnī, a drug manual written in table form that included names and properties of drugs.
The Jewish community of Zaragoza had seven synagogues, two of which are known by location today: Le Mayor (the main synagogue) and the synagogue "de los Callizos" or "de Cehán."
In the months following the expulsion, the Crown and the Inquisition supervised the confiscation and transfer of communal property, including Torah scroll, silver crowns, decorative cloths, and other ritual objects, many of which were dismantled, redistributed, or given to city authorities and religious institutions.
Early modern history
An outbreak of
bubonic plague decimated the city in 1564.
It reportedly killed about 10,000 people out of an estimated population of 25–30,000.
In the context of the 1701–1714 War of the Spanish Succession, the city rose in arms in favour of the Archduke Charles, who was proclaimed "King of Aragon" in the city on 29 June 1706, following the uprising of other parts of the Kingdom of Aragon in December 1705. Charles entered the city in July 1706, directing the attack on those places of Aragon that had sided with the Bourbon faction such as Borja or the Cinco Villas.
Following the April 1707 battle at Almansa, the tide turned with the
Austracist forces fleeing in disarray, and the Bourbon forces commanded by the Duke of Orléans entering the city on 26 May 1707. As he seized control of the kingdom, he began to enact the series of institutional reforms known as the Nueva Planta, abolishing the Aragonese institutions in favour of the Castilian ones. The war turned around again in 1710 after the Battle of Almenar, and, following another Bourbon defeat near Zaragoza on 20 August 1710, Archduke Charles returned to the city on the next day.
This was for only a brief period, though, as following the entry of Philip V in Madrid and the ensuing Battle of Villaviciosa in December 1710, the Habsburg armies fled from Zaragoza in haste in December 1710 and Philip V proceeded to consolidate his rule over the kingdom of Aragon, resuming administrative reforms after a period of institutional void.
An important food riot caused by the high price of bread and other took place in the city in April 1766, the so-called motín de los broqueleros, named after the repressive agents, volunteer farmers and craftsmen who wielded swords and (broqueles). The repression left about 300 wounded, 200 detainees and 8 deaths and it was followed by 17 public executions, and an indeterminate number of killings at the dungeons of the Aljafería.
Late Modern history
Zaragoza suffered two famous sieges during the
Peninsular War against the Napoleonic army: a first from June to August 1808; and a second from December 1808 to February 1809, surrendering only after some 50,000 defenders had died.
Railway transport came to Zaragoza on 16 September 1861 with the inauguration of the Barcelona–Zaragoza line with the arrival of a train from the former city to the Estación del Norte.
The July 1936 coup d'état (with Gen. Miguel Cabanellas, Col. , , , Major Cebollero and Gen. at the centre of the General Mola-led conspiration in Zaragoza) triumphed in the city. After the military uprising in Africa on 17 July, the military command easily attained its objectives in Zaragoza in the early morning of 19 July, despite the city's status as stronghold of organised labour (mostly CNT anarcho-syndicalists but also UGT trade unionists), as the civil governor critically refused to give weapons to the people in time. Many refugees, including members of the provincial committees of parties and unions, fled to Caspe, the capital of the territory of Aragon, which was still controlled by the Republic.
The rearguard violence committed by the putschists, with at least 12 murders on 19 July, would only go in crescendo along the beginning of the conflict. Thus one of the two big cities under Rebel control since the early stages of the Spanish Civil War along with Seville, Zaragoza profited from an increasing industrial production vis-à-vis the war economy, playing a key role for the Francoist faction as ammunition manufacturer.
The General Military Academy, a higher training center of the Spanish Army, was re-established on 27 September 1940 by José Enrique Varela, the Francoist Minister of the Army.
The 1953 Accords ensued with the installment of a joint US–Spain air base in Zaragoza.
Following the declaration of Zaragoza as Polo de Desarrollo Industrial ("Pole for Industrial Development") by the regime in 1964, the city doubled in population in a short time.
In 1979, a fire at the Hotel Corona de Aragón fire killed at least 80 people, including members of the family of Francisco Franco.
Since 1982, the city has been home to a large factory built by General Motors for the production of Opel cars, some of which are exported to the United Kingdom and sold under the Vauxhall Motors brand. The city took advantage of the entry of Spain into the European Communities (later European Union).
Geography
Location
Zaragoza lies in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, in the rather arid depression formed by the valley of the
Ebro. The Ebro cuts across the city in a west north-west by east south-east direction, entering the municipality at 205 metres above sea level and exiting the municipality at a level of 180 metres above sea level.
The city enjoys a beneficial location at the geographical centre of the rough hexagon formed by the Spanish cities of Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona and the French cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse.
The municipality has a surface of ,
While the river banks are largely flat, the territory flanking them can display a rugged terrain, featuring muelas and escarpments.
The Roman core of Caesaraugusta was founded on the right bank of the Ebro, with the north-east corner limiting the confluence of the Ebro with the Huerva, a modest right-bank tributary of the Ebro. The Huerva runs through the city buried for much of its lower course.
Climate
Zaragoza has a semi-arid climate (Köppen:
BSk),
as it lies in a wide
Drainage basin entirely surrounded by
which block off moist air from the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The average annual precipitation is a scanty with abundant sunny days, and the rainiest seasons are spring (April–May) and autumn (September–November), with a relative
drought in summer (July–August) and winter (December–March).
Temperatures in summer are hot, and in winter a cold and dry wind blows from the northwest, the Cierzo. Night frost is common and there is sporadic . Fog can be persistent in late autumn and early winter.
Administrative subdivisions
Zaragoza is administratively divided into 15 urban districts and 14 rural neighborhoods:
Demographics
Religion
According to a survey carried out by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) in 2019 with a sample size of 300, 51.0% of the surveyed people described themselves as non-practising Catholic, 24.0% as practising Catholic, 6.7% as indifferent/non-believer, 5.0% as
Agnosticism, 4.3% as
Atheism and 2.3% as "other religions", while a 6.7% did not answer.
Immigration
In 2017, there were 64,003 foreign citizens in Zaragoza,
which represent 9.6% of the total population. From 2010 to 2017 immigration dropped from 87,735 to 64,003 people, a 27% drop. Romanians represent 29.8% of foreigners living in Zaragoza, or 2.9% of the total city population, followed by
Morocco (9.1%) and
China (7%).
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| 19,064 |
| 5,804 |
| 4,497 |
| 3,302 |
| 2,488 |
| 2,470 |
| 2,117 |
| 1,115 |
| 1,030 |
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Economy
An
Opel factory was opened in 1982 in
Figueruelas, a small village nearby. The automotive industry is a main pillar of the regional economy along with Balay, which manufactures household appliances; CAF, which builds railway
rolling stock for both the national and international markets; SAICA and Torraspapel in the stationery sector; and various other local companies, such as
Pikolin,
Lacasa, and
Imaginarium SA.
The city's economy benefited from projects like the Expo 2008, the official World's Fair, whose theme was water and sustainable development, held between 14 June and 14 September 2008, Plataforma Logística de Zaragoza (PLAZA), and the Parque Tecnológico de Reciclado (PTR). Furthermore, since December 2003, it has been a city through which the AVE high-speed rail travels. Currently, Zaragoza Airport is a major cargo hub in the Iberian Peninsula, behind only Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon.
Zaragoza is home to a Spanish Air and Space Force base, which was shared with the U.S. Air Force until 1992.
Culture
Christianity took root in Zaragoza at an early date.
According to legend, St. Mary appeared miraculously to Saint James the Great in Zaragoza in the first century, standing on a pillar. This apparition is commemorated by a famous Catholic
basilica called
Nuestra Señora del Pilar ('Our Lady of the Pillar').
The Aragonese language, in decline for centuries and restricted mostly to northern Aragon, has recently attracted more people in the region. Thus, nowadays, in Zaragoza, up to 7,000 people speak Aragonese.
Festivals
The annual
Fiestas del Pilar lasts for nine days, with its main day on 12 October. This date also coincides with Spain's national holiday, El Día de la Hispanidad (Day of Hispanicity), which celebrates Spain's cultural and historical ties with Hispanic America.
October 12 also corresponds to the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.
There are many activities during the festival, from the massively attended pregon (opening speech) to the final fireworks display over the Ebro; they also include marching bands, dances such as jota aragonesa (the most popular folk music dance), a procession of
gigantes y cabezudos, concerts, exhibitions,
vaquillas, bullfights, fairground amusements, and fireworks. Some of the most important events are the Ofrenda de Flores, or Flower Offering to St. Mary of the Pillar, on 12 October, when an enormous surface resembling a cloak for St. Mary is covered with flowers, and the Ofrenda de Frutos on 13 October, when all the autonomous communities of Spain offer their typical regional dishes to St. Mary and donate them to soup kitchens.
Holy Week in Zaragoza, although not as elaborate an affair as its Andalusian or Bajo Aragón counterparts, has several processions passing through the city centre every day with dramatic sculptures, black-dressed praying women and hundreds of hooded people playing drums. It has been a Festival of International Tourist Interest since 2014.
Education
The University of Zaragoza is based in the city. As one of the oldest universities in Spain and a major research and development centre, this public university awards all the highest academic degrees in dozens of fields. Zaragoza is also home to the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, a unique partnership between MIT, the Government of Aragon and the University of Zaragoza.
There is a French international primary and secondary school, Lycée Français Molière de Saragosse.
Transport
Roads
The city is connected by
motorway with the main cities in central and northern Spain, including
Madrid,
Barcelona,
Valencia, and
Bilbao, all of which are located about 300 kilometres (200 miles) from Zaragoza.
Buses
The city has a network of buses which is controlled by the Urban Buses of Zaragoza (AUZSA). The network consists of 31 regular lines (two of them circle lines), two scheduled routes, six shuttle buses (one free), and seven night buses operating on Fridays, Saturdays and other festivities.
Zaragoza also has an interurban bus network operated by Transport Consortium Zaragoza Area (CTAZ) that operates 17 regular lines.
Bicycle
Zaragoza's bicycle lanes facilitate non-motorised travel and help cyclists to avoid running into pedestrians and motor vehicles. The city council also has a public bicycle-hire scheme, the bizi zaragoza, which has an annual charge.
Tram
The first line of the
Zaragoza tram (Valdespartera-Parque Goya) is fully operational.
Railway
Zaragoza is a part of the Spanish high-speed railway operated by
Renfe,
AVE, which connects
Madrid,
Lleida,
Tarragona,
Barcelona and
Figueres via high-speed rail. Madrid can be reached in 75 minutes, and Barcelona in approximately 90 minutes. The central station is Zaragoza–Delicias railway station, which serves both railway lines and coaches. In addition to long-distance railway lines and the high-speed trains, Zaragoza has a network of
Commuter rail operated by Renfe called
Cercanías Zaragoza.
Airport
Zaragoza Airport is located in the Garrapinillos neighbourhood, 10 kilometres from the city centre.
It is a major commercial airport, its freight traffic surpassing that of Barcelona El Prat in 2012,
Public transportation statistics
The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Zaragoza, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 48 minutes. 9% of public transit riders ride for more than two hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 11 minutes, while 12% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is , while 5% travel over in a single direction.
[ Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .]
Sports
Football
Zaragoza's main football team,
Real Zaragoza, plays in the Segunda División. Founded on 18 March 1932, its home games are played at
La Romareda, which seats 34,596 spectators. The club has spent the majority of its history in
La Liga. One of the most remarkable events in the team's recent history is the winning of the former UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1995. The team has also won the Spanish National Cup, Copa del Rey, six times: 1965, 1966, 1986, 1994, 2001 and 2004 and an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1964). A government survey in 2007 found that 2.7% of the Spanish population support the club, making them the seventh-most supported in the country.
Zaragoza's second football team is CD Ebro. Founded in 1942, it plays in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home games at Campo Municipal de Fútbol La Almozara, which has a capacity of 1,000 seats.
Zaragoza CFF is a Spanish women's football team from Zaragoza playing in Segunda Federación Femenina, that once played in the top división.
Zaragoza was one of the Spanish cities which hosted the FIFA World Cup 1982. Three matches were played at La Romareda.
Its current stadium (La Romareda) will be demolished and a new one will be built, as Zaragoza
Basketball
The main basketball team,
Basket Zaragoza, known as
Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship reasons, plays in the
Liga ACB. The Basket Zaragoza women's team also plays at the highest level in Spain, being the current finalist of the Liga Femenina Endesa. They play their home games at the Pabellón Príncipe Felipe with a capacity of 10,744. This pavillion will be the final venue for
EuroLeague Women from 2025 to 2027.
Stadium Casablanca, a.k.a. Mann Filter for sponsorship reasons, is the Spanish women's basketball club from Zaragoza that plays in the LFB.
Futsal
The main
futsal team, is Dlink Zaragoza, plays in the LNFS Primera División. They play at the Pabellón Siglo XXI with a capacity of 2,600.
Other sports
Zaragoza's handball team, BM Aragón, plays in the
Liga ASOBAL.
The Spanish Baja or Baja Aragon is a Rally raid event held in the region of Aragon in northern Spain. This event was launched in 1983, and chose the desert of Monegros because of the scenery and availability of service infrastructure in Zaragoza.
Zaragoza was strongly associated with Jaca in its failed bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
There are three Rugby Union teams playing in the regional league:
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Ibero Club de Rugby Zaragoza
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Fénix Club de Rugby
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Club Deportivo Universitario de Rugby
In June, 2025, Zaragoza will host the ITSF World Cup and World Championships,
A permanent feature built for Expo 2008 is the pump-powered artificial whitewater course El Canal de Aguas Bravas.
Main sights
Near the basilica on the banks of the Ebro are located the city hall, the Lonja (old currency exchange), La Seo (literally 'the
Episcopal see' in the Aragonese language) or Cathedral of San Salvador, a church built over the main mosque (partially preserved in the 11th-century north wall of the Parroquieta), with Romanesque apses from the 12th century; inside, the imposing
hall church from the 15th to 16th centuries, the Baroque tower, and finally, with its famous Museum of Tapestries near the Roman ruins of forum and port
city wall.
Also in the city centre, there is the palace of the Aljafería, conceived in the third quarter of the 11th century on behalf of the Hudid dynasty, featuring in its interior one of the most rich and complex instances of Islamic ornament, either Western or Eastern.
The churches of San Pablo, Santa María Magdalena and San Gil Abad were built in the 14th century, but the towers may be old minarets dating from the 11th century; San Miguel (14th century); Santiago (San Ildefonso) and the Fecetas monastery are Baroque with Mudéjar ceilings of the 17th century. All the churches are Mudéjar monuments that comprise a World Heritage Site.
File:Torreón de la Zuda-Muralla.jpg|The Roman walls
File:WLM14ES - P9148476 - .jpg|Interior of the Aljafería
File:Basilica del Pilar-sunset.jpg|left|Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the Puente de Piedra bridge on the Ebro River
File:20070408 Catedral Zaragoza.jpg|View from the Cathedral
Other important sights are the stately houses and palaces in the city, mainly of the 16th century: palaces of the count of Morata or Luna (Audiencia), Deán, Torrero (colegio de Arquitectos), Don Lope or Real Maestranza, count of Sástago, count of Argillo (today the Pablo Gargallo museum), archbishop, etc. On 14 June 2008, the site of Expo 2008 opened its doors to the public. The exhibition ran until 14 September.
Other sights
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Puente de Piedra
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San Ildefonso church
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Santa Engracia Monastery
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Fuente de la Hispanidad
Museums
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Museum of Fine Arts Zaragoza, with paintings by early Aragonese artists, 15th century, and by El Greco, Ribera and Goya.
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Museo Goya - Colección Ibercaja - Museo Camón Aznar with works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velazquez and Goya to Renoir, Manet and Sorolla.
Twin towns and sister cities
Zaragoza is twinned with:
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Pau, France, 1960
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Zaragoza, Guatemala, 1976
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Biarritz, France, 1977
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La Plata, Argentina, 1990
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Ponce, Puerto Rico, United States, 1993
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León, Nicaragua, 2002
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Bethlehem, Palestine, 2003
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Óbuda-Békásmegyer, Hungary, 2004
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Tijuana, Mexico, 2005
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Móstoles, Spain, 2005
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Coimbra, Portugal, 2005
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La Paz, Bolivia, 2008
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Zamboanga City, Philippines, 2008
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Dalian, Liaoning, China, 2008
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Yulin, Guangxi, China, 2008
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Skopje, North Macedonia, 2008
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Mdina, Malta, 2008
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Córdoba, Argentina, 2008
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Atizapan, Mexico, 2009
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Cúcuta, Colombia, 2010
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Yoro, Honduras, 2012
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Campinas, Brazil, 2012
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Zaragoza, El Salvador, 2014
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Canfranc, Spain, 2015
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Zaragoza has special bilateral collaboration agreements with:
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Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001
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Tirana, Albania, 2002
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Ploiești, Romania, 2004
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Toulouse, France, 2008
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Zapopan, Mexico, 2010
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Notable people
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Abraham Abulafia (1240–1291), founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah"
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Alonso Fernández de Heredia (died March 19, 1782), Captain General and governor of Honduras (1747), Florida (1751–1758), Yucatán (in modern-day Mexico; 1758–?), the Captaincy General of Guatemala (1761–1771) and Nicaragua (1761–1771).
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Levi ibn al-Tabban (12th century), Jewish grammarian and poet
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Hasdai Crescas, a Jewish philosopher and author of Or Adonai
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Amaral (band) (established 1992), popular musical band in Spain and America.
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Félix Anaut (born 1944), painter
[Fortnight - Issues 440-448 - Page 23 2006 "Constraints of time, space and blisters explain the omission of Paul Mckinley at OMAC, Felix Anaut at the Arttank and the Disembodied Eye at the Golden Thread."]
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Avempace (1085–1138), polymath
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Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda (1050–1120), Jewish philosopher and the author of Chovot HaLevavot
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Ramón Ferreñac (1763–1832), composer
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José Luis Gil (born 1957), actor
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Luis de Horruytiner (? – ?), governor of Spanish Florida (1633 – 1638), and viceroy of Sardinia
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José Antonio Jiménez Salas (1916 – 2000), geotechnical engineer, professor of civil engineering, and Academic staff member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
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Mapi León (born 1995), footballer for the Spain national team
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David Loera (born 1998), Spanish-born soccer player
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Eliezer Mayenda (born 2005), footballer for Sunderland AFC
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Rafael Navarro (born 8 October 1940), photographer
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Salma Paralluelo (born 2003), footballer for the Spain national team
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Sebastián Pozas (1876–1946), military officer
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Al-Saraqusti (died 1143), twelfth century Andalusi lexicographer, poet, philologist
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María del Pilar Sinués de Marco (1835-1893), prolific 19th-century writer
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Irene Vallejo, writer
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Dino Valls (born 1959), painter.
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Ignacio García Velilla (born 1967), film director
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José María Vigil (born 1946), theologian
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St. Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), Christian proto-martyr of Spain
See also
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Crown of Aragon
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zaragoza
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Third Millennium Bridge
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Caesaraugusta
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List of municipalities in Zaragoza
- Citations
- Bibliography
External links
