Carmen Gate
La Puerta del Carmen is the only door that remains from the twelve (four Roman and eight medieval) that the defensive wall of Zaragoza had.
It is located in the square that forms the intersection of two of the main arteries of the city, Avenida César Augusto and Paseo María Agustín.
Built in 1789 by the architect Agustín Sanz and inaugurated in 1792, it stands on the old Puerta del Carmen, which was part of the second walled enclosure of the city.
Its structure, like a Roman triumphal arch, responds to Madrid's neoclassical models. It hardly has external decorative elements, except for the padding of its ashlars and the ball finish at the top of the door, some of which still remain.
During the Sieges, which occurred in the War of Independence in 1808 and 1809, it served as a bastion for the Aragonese resistance; good proof of this are the traces of the projectiles that hit its structure.
In 1927, after the demolition of the only adjoining house that remained, it was inaugurated as an exempt commemorative monument. Its structure, like a Roman triumphal arch, responds to Madrid's neoclassical models.
